Two last-gasp goals on the road have seen Mamelodi Sundowns grab all points on offer in the 2-0 victory against Sekhukhune United on Tuesday night at the New Peter Mokaba Stadium. It is Nuno Santos and Brayan Leon’s heroics that helped the Brazilians walk away with a triumph.
In the opening fifteen minutes of the encounter, Masandawana were the more attacking side as they kept the ball in the hosts’ half. Just after the 15-minute mark, Babina Noko looked to punish their visitors on the left flank, but Thapelo Morena made a crucial clearance to keep the score goalless.
Sekhukhune United found their rhythm and started posing serious threats to the Downs’ defence. They were awarded plenty of corner kicks, but luckily, Denis Onyango’s focus was sharp enough to deny them any goals.
Just inside 30 minutes, Masandawana almost broke the deadlock after a successful counterattack. Arthur Sales found Iqraam Rayners inside the box and delivered the ball to him. Rayners’ effort, however, went wide after being shielded by the Sekhukhune United defence.
Brayan Leon almost grabbed his second goal of the season towards the end of the opening half inside the area. He took a shot even as he fell, but was unlucky to be denied by the goalkeepers’ feet. Rayners also almost concluded the opening half with a goal when he was found unmarked inside the danger area. His shot was tipped away by the goalkeeper. Despite Downs’ dominance in the half, the two sides went to the interval goalless.
In the second stanza, Bafana Ba Style struggled to effectively combine, especially in front, but that didn’t stop them from dominating their opponents. They continued knocking on the door, and just when it looked like the mouthwatering encounter would end in a goalless draw, in added time, the visitors did the unexpected.
Three minutes inside the added time, Santos put his side ahead when he calmly slotted the ball in and sent the goalkeeper the opposite direction. The ball had come from substitute Khuliso Mudau on the right flank after a good build-up from the opposite half.
Two minutes later, substitute Peter Shalulile almost doubled the advantage for Downs. His effort, however, was blocked by the keeper, but León found the rebound and headed it in to seal the triumph for coach Miguel Cardoso’s charges.
How we lined up: Onyango ©, Morena, Johannes, Ndamane, Lunga, Reisinho, Adams, Mkhulise, Sales, Rayners, Leon.
Subs: Pieterse, Modiba, Mudau, Allende, Cupido, Santos, Matthews, Letlhaku, Shalulile.
Hard fought victory,starting with two strikers showed that we are going for a kill.Johanes and Adams had fantastic game,in Leon we found goal poacher,his aggression and intensity complemented well with the hunger of Shalulile,for once since Cardoso arrived he made substitutions that took our game to the next level.Football doesn’t need cowards,we must always play on the front foot.We are more mobile and flexible when we play with Adams and Mkhulise,they are not afraid to turn and make forward passes,even our center backs were mobile unlike Kekana.The elephant in the room was the ref,it seemed like he was an agent of other chasing team.I was surprised to see Johanes getting a yellow card for kicking the ball first and Mkhize didn’t get a card for kicking Mkhulise and another Sekhukhune player didn’t get a card for hitting our player on the face with an elbow.I’m happy the same ref will not be officiating next season because he will be 47 years,the guy was horrible on the day,his age is catching up with him.