Mamelodi Sundowns came away 1-0 winners on their visit to the Sugar Ray Xulu Stadium against Lamontville Golden Arrows to continue with their unbeaten record in the DStv Premiership.
There was a brief early scare for Masandawana in the opening minutes of the match with Arrows building up from the back looking for Mutizwa to finish off in the box, but goalkeeper Denis Onyango was on his toes and quick out of the box to scoop the ball.
Abafana Bes’thende were always going to put together a tough challenge for The Brazilians, with the two teams meeting for the third time this season, a thrilling encounter was anticipated. Arrows were on top for periods in the first half and even had another opportunity at goal following some combination play from Velemseni Ndwandwe and Mthokozisi Dube in attack, who were unfortunate to find the target.
The missed opportunities gave Bafana Ba Style the chance to grow into the game as they continued to cycle the ball wide and provide crosses upfront to Peter Shalulile, Gaston Sirino and Thabiso Kutumela.
Masandawana’s Sibusiso Vilakazi had the best chance with a cross in the box from Khuliso Mudau when some slack defensive work gifted him the opportunity at goal, Vila was surrounded by the host’s defenders and brought down, however no penalty was awarded and Masandawana continued looking for a solution. Arrows were starting to increase the tempo by the last 10 minutes of the first half, however both teams went into the break without any goals on their side.
After the half-time break, Downs started to push for an opening goal by starting to build some momentum with Andile Jali and Vilakazi beginning to find spaces in the opposition’s box. The game then burst into life for the champions as Vila’s back heel pass to Vila who perfectly spotted Gaston Sirino who put the ball at the back of the net, passing Arows goalie Maximilian Mbaeva’s sight.
The Durban-based team continued putting heavy pressure on Downs’ defense and eventually earned a penalty. Michael Gumede stepped up to the penalty spot against the Ugandan international goalie as Arrows looked to find an equalizer, but the 28-year old struck the ball wide off target. The visitors enjoyed a long spell of possession and kept most of the ball possession in the last few minutes of the heated encounter.
Brazilian-born Ricardo Nascimento made his first appearance in the match as Haashim Domingo made his way off the field after a spectacular performance. Thapelo Morena, Sphelele Mkhulise who returned from injury also made their contribution coming off the bench together with Neo Maema.
This is how we lined up: D. Onyango ©, K. Mudau (88′ Morena), B. Onyango, M. Lebusa, A. Modiba, A. Jali, H. Domingo (88′ Nascimento), T. Kutumela, G. Sirino (82′ Maema), S. Vilakazi (67′ Mkhulise), P. Shalulile.
Subs: R. Goss, P. Safranko, L. Lakay, R. Nascimento, S. Mkhulise, G. Maluleka, N. Maema, L. Kapinga, T. Morena
Fellow Dawanas now I can confirm that Gomes hate Downs to bit I mean a guy always gave a penalty against us but to us we will not get a penalty from him.
Why always when We play against Arrows it always Gomes who’s officiating and lastly tjat stadium is not suitable for a professional soccer games.Happy to see Kapinga on the bench hope next time he will play and pls don’t forget to recall back Motupa,thanks for the three points.
I rest my case when it comes to this rubbish called Victor Gomes against Chiefs we had a stretched arm of Cole Alexander and Gomes chose to give Riva a yellow card.A penalty was scored by Lakay &he chose to give Robinson a red card.It was easy for him to give Arrows a doubtfull penalty than an obvious one. I was impressed by the whole team considering jetlag& some were coming from injury layoffs. I think Mudau had a great game and he made a statement to the 3 coaches and must not be made a makeshift player in the absence of Kekana & Morena. I was again disappointed be seeing Ngobeni was still not on the days team sheet.Modiba doesn’t want to be a Sundowns player,he has been given a chance but he’s blowing it.
I thought i was the only one who sees that Gomes has a thing for Sundowns…. I’ve mentioned here on this website. Anyway, I am not sure why the psl always Golden arrows to host teams on that ground, it’s awful. Good win… We couldn’t play the Sundowns way because of the pitch but we managed to win. Special shout out to Mudau, Domingo and the beast Jali… Top top performance. But the whole team put in a shift i have to add.
Gomes is really against Sundowns! How can he dinies us a legitimate penalty and only to give a dubious penalty against us! He wanted us to concede a goal so that we don’t break the record of 10 games in a row without conceding that was being held by Wits! I hate that referee with all my heart! He always want to give penalties against us! Dubious ones for that matter!! His mission did not succeed in this game! I pray they don’t give him the MTN Final to refere!
I really think there’s a hidden agent to stop Downs at all cost,i fail to understand why psl can allow a game to be played on such an awful pitch,players could sustain severe injuries on that nonsense of a pitch.My guess is gomes is an agent of certain team,he is always against us,Jele got a yellow card against Maritzburg for similar tackle on Vila,that was a clear penalty.I think we must learn that it is always us against the world,everybody is jealous of our success.Special praise to our top performers,Mudau and Domingo,they played exceptionally well.Domingo need to do some extra training to improve on his stamina and work rate but he is coming up alright.To the technical team you are doing a great job,you must bring back Motupa,he was our star performer towards the end of the league last season,he is the only one who can relieve the heavy work load on Shaulile.
Well done boys, fatigue was evident in our play, they were fresher than us.
The game was better in the second half.
Please play Muthupa,we want him in the team,
Onyango the defender played well, keep it up boy.
Please also introduce Ngobeni to the team. Rotate players where possible so they can be all match fit.