Mamelodi Sundowns secured their place at the top of the DStv Premiership log with a 3-0 victory over Swallows FC at Loftus Versfeld Stadium.
Denis Onyango returned to the starting lineup after missing Tuesday’s MTN8 semi-final, while Divine Lunga and Pavol Safranko got their second consecutive starts. Thabiso Kutumela retained his placed in the team following his impressive run of form.
The Brazilians started like a team keen to unsettle their opponents with any early attempt at goal from striker Peter Shalulile, after Swallows lost possession of the ball. Former Downs attacker, Keletso Makgalwa shortly followed with an attempt on goal on the right side of the pitch towards Onyango, however pushed out by the Ugandan international goalie.
With the game heating up, both sides tried to harass each other into errors with an intense high press and counter-attack. Perfectly interchanged passes between Bafana Ba Style attackers, Themba Zwane and Shalulile paved a goalscoring opportunity for Safranko, who was unlucky to convert his first league goal of the season as Wandisile Letlabika cleared out the danger. Kutumela was among those to see his attempt on goal denied, with a shot that hit the woodwork with the follow up eventually cleared away to give Masandawana a corner.
Lakay’s delivery from the resulting set-piece in the box was a good one, finding Safranko, whose glancing header saw the Slovakian striker score his first goal in the league to put Masandawana in front early on and several more chances followed to extend their lead before the break.
The second half of the started at a similarly frenetic pace, Lunga’s persistence on the wing allowed him to hold possession and supply balls into the opposition’s box. Sundowns looked to their bench to extend their lead with Neo Maema, Sibusiso Vilakazi, Rinaldo Coetzee and Aubrey Modiba entering the field of play looking to make an impact.
The Brazilians did not have to wait much longer for a reason to celebrate, late goals from Maema and Shalulile put pay to the work and secured the victory at Loftus. Masandawana secured their fifth consecutive clean sheet in a row and the Zimbabwean defender Lunga was selected man of the match for his outstanding efforts in defense, earning himself the award for the first time with his new club.
Mamelodi Sundowns will now turn their attention to preparing for the CAF Champions League preliminary stages to be played when club football resumes after the international break.
This is how we lined up: D. Onyango, L. Lakay, R. De Reuck, G. Kekana, A. Jali (67′ Vilakazi), T. Zwane (84′ Modiba), T. Kutumela (67′ Coetzee), P. Shalulile, D. Lunga, P. Safranko (67′ Maema), H. Domingo.
Subs: Pieterse, Coetzee, Modiba, B. Onyango, Mkhulise, Sirino, Maema, Erasmus, Vilakazi.
At the moment this team looks “massive”. They irresistible. Top top top team… Massive praise they deserve. Im actually speechless. Shout out to Onyango. Massive saves. Maema great impetuous. Always contributes. I’ve watched this team since early 90s. I can safely say this is the best team.
Bravo once more to the technical team,this is what you get for selecting a team on merit and creating a healthy competition among the players.My only concern is the amount of chances the oppositions are getting against us,one day we are not going to lucky,it’s normal for teams to create scoring opportunities against us but,they should at least be minimized and over all we are a well oiled machine.Let’s us this FIFA break to make sure those who are nursing injuries are properly healed.
Congratulations to the technical team and the players well done guys, I’m happy to see safranko score that guy is good given time he will improve.
I agree member Safranko is good, remember with Torrealba he took time to adapt and once he did we were unstoppable, I really dnt think we sign pap players at all, the only thing i think we deserve as fans is regular injury updates and where players are moving to, I was shocked to see that Alfonso had signed with a team in Uruguay and reasons given to us fans was that he is injury prone dah dah dah. Anyway I’m happy with the start and next inline from the top 6 will be SSU and the league will be delivered to Choorkop, I thank you my fellow supporters and the team for a good job done, ngiyabonga
Congrats to the technical team for listening to us and selecting this starting 11.All players are representing us so well and lam so humbled to be part of such a massive team.The commitment and dedication shown by our players is second to none,substitutes come in and contribute immensely to the team.Dawanas,lam so impressed. Keep up the wonderful job gentlemen,l salute you.