Mamelodi Sundowns have moved to the top of the Betway Premiership tally following their 1-0 victory against Amazulu FC on Tuesday evening at the Moses Mabhida Stadium. It is Marcelo Allende’s late goal that saw the Pretoria-based side leave Kwa-Zulu Natal with all points on offer.
Bafana Ba Style controlled and dominated from the moment the kick-off whistle was blown. It only took 11 minutes to pull a threatening shot, and it came through KatlegoNtsabeleng. He received a pass in the box and triggered a shot, which slightly went wide.
As the visitors continued dominating their opponents, another attempt break the deadlock came from Khulumani Ndamane, who rose to connect with a corner kick. His glancing header, however, forced a save out of the goalkeeper.
Coach Miguel Cardoso was forced into making an early change when ThapeloMorena attained an injury just after the half-hour mark. Nuno Santos came in to replace the speedy Morena.
The hosts were only able to pull a dangerous effort in the final stages of the opening half. A golden opportunity had arisen for them inside the area, but Ronwen Williams made an outstanding save to ensure both sides head to the interval all square with no goals.
The Brazilians maintained their dominance in the second half and continued creating chances inside the box, but the Usuthu defence was tight, denying the hosts a goal. Tashreeq Matthews and Brayan Leon had opportunities from a distance, but the efforts were denied.
The visitors’ attack was improving, and they nearly found the back of the net through Leon’s effort in the danger area but were denied by the goalkeeper. In the final stages of the match, with only six minutes to play, Marcelo Allende finally broke the deadlock for Downs with a beautiful finish from close range to conclude the proceedings.
How we lined up: Williams, ©, Mudau, Ndamane, Kekana, Morena, Modiba, Mokoena, Adams, Ntsabeleng, Matthews, Leon.
Subs: Onyango, Johannes, Basadien, Mkhulise, Allende, Zwane, Santos, Mothiba, Rayners.
Very much happy with the hunger,passion and fighting spirit the team displayed on the night and was particularly happy with the over all performance of Ntsabeleng,he was energetic and comfortable on the ball,his creativity was very good,we can unlock stubborn defense with him .Honestly even if we didn’t win i was gonna be satisfied with the performance of the boys.We cannot win all the games but out attitude and fight in the game should never be questionable because,as much as you entertain us to you it is a job,just imagine if all workers were to perform good when they like,most companies will be closed and our country will be very poor.That was our best performance this season,keep it up.
Congrats to the boys and the technical team ,they are grinding results ,at least we seem to have a starting eleven and it changes only when there are injuries.The league and CCL must come home.I just hope Morena’ s injury is not serious.KBY