A last minute goal in a five goal thriller has seen Mamelodi Sundowns record their first three points of the season after beating TS Galaxy 3-2 on Tuesday night at the Mbombela Stadium.
It only took five minutes for the visitors to take an early lead. Tashreeq Matthews was fouled inside the box, leading to the referee pointing to the spot. Brian Leon took the spot kick, seeing Masandawana breaking the deadlock.
Leon had a clear opportunity on the 12th minute after a defence-splitting pass from Marcelo Allende but the ball was intercepted off his feet after taking time to fire a shot.
The ball went to the opposite end of the pitch when the hosts attempted to take a shot from a tight angle but Ronwen Williams scooped the ball.
After continuously knocking on the door and forcing the Downs defence to work, The Rockets found s leveller on the 33rd minute. Nuno Santos lost the ball and the hosts took it straight to the box, beating Williams.
While both teams fought to snatch the lead, they went to the break deadlocked.
Upon return to play, Bennet Mokoena, who came in the second stanza, drove the ball to the box, going past two defenders. Instead of taking the shot, he handed it to Matthews whose effort was smacked away by the keeper.
Bafana Ba Style were fighting to get a winner and just after the hour mark, the chance came from Leon on the right flank but the keeper dived to tip it away.
A 77th minute setpiece effort saw Galaxy snatching the lead. Williams tried his best to block the ball but he couldn’t stop it.
Just before the end of regulation time, the visitors levelled matters. Khuliso Mudau made a cut-back to find substitute, Cassius Mailula but Mailula’s effort was blocked. A rebound was found during a scramble by Sphelele Mlhulise’s heel that punched the ball into the box.
A last gasp goal in added time sealed the match for The Brazilians. Again, the goal came from Mudau’s cut back, which was met by Mkhulise who slotted it in. This saw the Pretoria-based side walking away with all points on offer.
How we lined up: Williams ©, Mudau, Johannes, Khoza, Basadien, Allende, Santos, G. Kekana, Matthews, Leon, van Wyk.
Subs: Goss, Modiba, Mdunyelwa, Mvala, Mkhulise, Zwane, B. Mokoena, Mailula, Rayners.
Ka bo yellow…am i the only one worried ka Williams bafwethu?
No you are not member,the old man is the liability in the team,he is not tired ,he is finished,he is continuing where he left last season.In our last two games of the league last season,two champions league final games,four world cup games and this season’s two games we played,he had one clean sheet out of ten games,that is terrible but our technical team turn a blind eye on that.His main problem is a he fails to learn,his rotten style of playing with the at the back is the root cause of most of the goals we conceded,even at the world cup supporters of the opposing teams were booing him when he delays to play the ball.On Tuesday after we scored he started to play at back and if we check clearly after we conceded the second goal he started to rush the balls forward,it is like he is sabotaging the team.My plea to the coach is to keep faith in those young players even when they make mistakes,they will learn,like he keeps faith in forever erratic old Williams who is not learning from his mistakes.
you have said a mouthful Dawana, you are 100 percent correct…Agreed with everything you say
Can the coach change this stupid mentality of Williams please we suffer a lot bcoz of the slow build-up and wayward passing of the ball to opponents it’s either by him or by his defenders.To play 2 games and concede 4 goals,it’s very dangerous and every body is casual and comfortable once we score a goal.Bt in terms of playing,I think we play better football than last season bt conceding goals from setpieces and conceding unnecessarily is a great concern.Putting Williams on the bench will b a great remedy otherwise.B Mokoena,Mailula,Ndlovu,Thato Sibiya,Gomolemo Kekana&Letlhaku I see great prospects for the future.Yes we usually start slowly when the season starts bt I can say let’s take 3 points and go home.Lets see again if we can’t reach the MTN8 final then attempt to lift it but we r having a bad history about this cup.I so wish it’s not a matter of history repeating itself
Forget about this coach doing anything about the team’s mistakes. Williams will again be in the starting eleven again on Saturday. Cardoso is not improving the team at all. Once we start losing he’s going to drop those youngsters like a hot potato 🥔, and go back to his reliable starting eleven. I’m so happy for Mkhulise that he came in there and showed hunger, it’ll be difficult for Cardoso to ignore him. TS Galaxy’s equalising goal was long coming, but the technical team stood-by and never intervened.