Mamelodi Sundowns dropped points on Wednesday night when they were held to a 1-1 draw by Stellenbosch FC at Loftus Versfeld. Katlego Ntsabeleng’s goal is what saw Bafana Ba Style walking away with at least a point.
The first action of the match came on the 12th minute, after end-to-end football was witnessed between the two sides. The 12th minute attempt came from Marcelo Allende but the effort deflected from a defender’s foot, hitting the side net.
Two minutes later, the visitors lurked in the nearpost as they looked to break the deadlock but Grant Kekana smelt the danger and cleared the ball away with a slide. On the 16th minute though, the Downs defence were caught napping when they made a defence-splitting pass to find a maroon jersey in front. Ronwen Williams came off his line to block the dangerous ball. While he could not block it, the effort missed the target by a few inches.
On the 27th minute, Katlego Ntsabeleng found an early goal to eliminate pressure. Ntsabeleng combined sublimely with Arthur Sales to give his side a lead from close range.
Just after the half-hour mark, Stellenbosch almost scored from the area from a through pass but it was intercepted to keep the score at 1-0.
In the final minutes of the opening half, Sales, again, combined well with Rayners but Sales’ pass meant for Rayners was too strong which led to the goalkeeper getting to the ball first. While they were close to doubling the scoreline, the Brazilians went to the break with a goal advantage.
Three minutes into the second half, the hosts almost found the back of the net through Sales. Rayners ran down to the left flank and picked Sales to make a cut-back. Sales connected to the ball with a first touch effort but it sailed over the bar.
Stellies almost capitalised from a mistake which earned them a set-piece but the effort hit the side netting.
Mudau came close to finding the back of the net just after the hour mark. The effort came from a beautiful build-up between substitute, Themba Zwane and Sales and Mudau who had the final touch of the ball. He headed the ball towards goal but the missed the target by a few inches. Allende also looked to add his name on the scoresheet when Tashreeq Matthews set him up
In a dramatic turn of events, Stellenbosch were fouled inside the box by Khulumane Ndamane which led to the referee pointing to the spot. The penalty taken was initially blocked by Williams but the visitors pounced on the rebound to level matters.
In added time, Stellies were awarded a free-kick on the edge of the box after a foul by Mudau but the effort sailed over the bar. That was the final action of the match which led to Downs having to settle for a point.
How we lined up: Williams ©, Mudau, Ndamane, Kekana, Modiba, Mokoena, Allende, Ntsabeleng, Sales, Matthews, Rayners.
Subs: Onyango, Cupido, Morena, Lunga, Adams, Mdunyelwa, Saleng, Leon, Zwane.
Our coach must have the guts to drop williams and kekana for the benefit of the team.We are tired of watching them making 300 less productive passes to each other,if we were playing an offensive football we could have easily easily scored the second goal to cover for our mistakes.We can’t sacrifice the success of the team because of only two players,Sundowns with all the fire power has scored only 4 goals in the last four matches because williams and kekana want the whole country to watch them playing with the ball at the back.If management are not doing something to assist the coach to deal with the nonsense the two players are doing at the back then,we are in for an empty season.The two players are playing with the ball at the back not building from the back.Playing with the ball at the back is like putting a Ferrari on neutral and fully compress the accelerator and expect to win a car race against a truck,when it will only produces a powerful sound with no movement.We ca’t let a keeper dictate how we must play,that is nonsense.If that is our normal play we did they play forward passes urgently after we conceded? They only know how to play for a win after we have conceded,that is why i always question williams’ level of thinking and education,because a person with a sane mind cannot do the one thing that is not productive over and over again.Yes the penalty was an unforced error but we should have played to score another goal before that error.Whoever choose him to be our captain must review their decision.Let us be honest here,you can’t relax we watching Sundowns play because of the two players.Our happiness can’t be held at ransom because of the two very old players who have no future with the club,enough is enough something must be done urgently about the way those two want us to play.If they want to make 1000 passes without scoring goals they must follow Mr thousand passes wherever he is.
We’ve been complaining about the same thing ever since Cardoso arrived. The fact that Kekana and Williams do not change their style of play, simple means he approves of it. I’ve never seen Kekana running with the ball at his feet 🦶. He always avails himself at the back to receive the ball from Williams, and after that he’ll be like walking with the ball. Even Ndamane plays like him when they play together. Tebogo Mokoena is another player who’s always playing facing our goals. He spends most of the time running towards his fellow player to receive the ball, thereafter he doesn’t do anything with it except passing backwards or sideways. Even Gavin Hunt said it in his post-match interview that our style of play suits them, because we’re so slow and always passing the ball around in the middle field. I had premonition about this game since the weekend. I knew it’s difficult to play the Gavin Hunt coached teams. I don’t even think the technical team did their homework on Stellenbosch. We trully miss Pitso and Rhulani who would spend hours analysing the opponents. It’ll be so difficult to come back with all the points from Richards Bay and Polokwane City. I really feel for Ndamane, he might be punished for that mistake just like Thato Sibiya when he conceded a penalty against TS Galaxy. Nuno Santos deliberately handled the ball inside the 18 area against Marumo Gallants and he was in the starting line the next game
Validation complain but no need complain if no one willing listen to u if u married woman u not happy just divorced her