Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies suffered only their second defeat of the Hollywoodbets Super League as the reigning champions succumbed to a 1-0 defeat at the hands of TUT Ladies Football Club.
Coach Jerry ‘Kappa’ Tshabalala fielded a strong lineup with Andile Dlamini in goal, while Karabo Makhurubetshi, Bambanani Mbane, Regina Mogolola, and Tiisetso Makhubela started in defence. Thalea Smidt, Lerato Kgasago, and Chuene Morifi marshalled the midfield while Lelona Daweti, Nonhlanhla Mthandi, and Melinda Kgadiete started upfront.
The first half saw both teams launch several attacking forays, but the opposition goalkeepers were equal to the task.
With scores levelled at the break, Kappa rang in the changes after the restart with Chantelle Esau and Boitumelo Rabale replacing Lelona Daweti and Lerato Kgasago.
With 20 minutes to go, Mary Ntsweng delivered a stunning freekick to open the scoring for TUT Ladies. The Brazilians fought back with several goalscoring opportunities but were unable to salvage a point in the highly entertaining encounter.
Coach Jerry was full of praise for his troops despite failing to find the back of the net in the tough encounter.
“It is a game that we lost with pride because we gave everything on the pitch. We were dominant in possession; we attacked the key areas, but we suffered a lapse in concentration and that cost us the game. Although we lost, the performance of our troops was impressive. We need to bounce back from the minor setback and look forward to the next game. We are still in a position to defend our title and we are not going to rest until we achieve our main objective,” Kappa stated.
Despite the defeat, Sundowns Ladies remain on top of the Hollywoodbets Super League standings with 49 points, 4 points clear of second-placed JVW FC. TUT Ladies are currently third also with 45 points.
Up next for Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies is a clash against Thunderbirds Ladies on Wednesday.
The coach should not sugar-coat a loss … in football there is nothing like losing with pride which pride because it was dented. I know that as a coach you try by all means to protect your players but from what I saw yesterday the technical team lost the game from their selection. You have 2 top goal scorers but you start them on the bench there is no logic there. this was a game that required goals but your starting line-up has no players that are prolific in front of goals. We should stop this thing of undermining teams based on previous fixtures. Good coaches can figure us out because it seems like we dont have plan B when faced with more organised teams, UWC took 4 ponits from us this season, now TUT has taken 3 and I can forsee JVW also fancying their chances because we are too much of an open book without a surprise element. The coach id rigid with his 3 5 2 system, it cant be that you stich to a system no matter what. Based on our opposition we need tp be flexible paly 4 3 3 or 4 3 2 1 or 3 4 3. We are too predictable. So far we have had 4 losses lost in a friendly vs Richmond Ladies, lost to UWC, lost Green Buffaloes and now TUT all in one season when we have been invincible for almost 4 years. My take is we need to refresh the team more especially upfront, lets find aggressive strikers who can harass opposition defences we have too nice strikers
Editor I thought Sundowns was having the biggest fixture in the PSL this week,you chose to sleep on a job.But the only update is still the ladies results really!!!!???