Staff Reporter.
Sundowns who had gone 17 games unbeaten since the start of the campaign, nonetheless remain well in control at the top with a 16-point lead over the chasing pack.
The Brazilians should have claimed the lead as early as the second minute, as a clever dummy from Peter Shalulile presented Sphelele Mkhulise with a great scoring chance, but the midfielder skewed his shot wide with only goalkeeper Neil Boshoff to beat.
AmaZulu’s first major attacking highlight arrived in the 19th minute when Thabo Qalinge unleashed a fine shot from long range, but Sundowns goalkeeper Denis Onyango pulled off an excellent save to keep the game at 0-0.
The match continued to be a tense arm-wrestle through the first 15 minutes of the second half, until Sundowns had the next clear chance just past the hour mark: Ricardo Nascimento broke free of his marker to meet a corner kick and flicked a header just over the angle of post and crossbar.
AmaZulu then enjoyed a strong spell of dominance and claimed the lead in the 75th minute, with substitute Augustine Mulenga springing the offside trap to run onto Luvoyo Memela’s through ball, before providing a crisp finish past Onyango for 1-0.
Sundowns looked for a quick response and nearly levelled the score three minutes later, with Lyle Lakay’s shot direct from a free kick forcing Boshoff into a sharp save.
AmaZulu remained a threat on the counter, though, and nearly hit the Brazilians with another sucker punch in the 81st minute as Memela fired over following a well-worked corner.
Onyango came close to getting the equaliser at the other end for the visitors in a goal-mouth scramble from a corner but Usuthu held on to move up to third on the log.