Staff Reporter.
Mamelodi Sundowns made the most of their chances to secure a hard-fought 2-0 league win against Kaizer Chiefs at the Loftus Versfeld Stadium on Sunday evening.
Sundowns made just one alteration to their starting lineup with Themba Zwane replacing Siphelele Mkhulise and Chiefs also made one change to their side with Thabani Dube coming in for Bernard Parker.
Chiefs had most of the chances and the game was indeed closer than the scoreline suggests – there was also a late penalty miss for the visitors.
The Soweto giants started the game well and were close to scoring in the sixth minute when Keagan Dolly connected with a volley in the box, but his less favoured right-foot was unable to keep the ball under the crossbar.
The miss was made all the worse when Sundowns took the lead just three minutes later, somewhat against the run of play. The goal was a soft one from Chiefs’ perspective as Grant Kekana was afforded space at the back-post where he out-jumped Dube to head home a free kick from Lyle Lakay.
Chiefs responded positively with Samir Nurkovic, who headed straight at Denis Onyango, and Dolly, who beat a couple of defenders before firing a low shot just wide from the edge of the area.
Nurkovic then missed a golden opportunity to level the scores in the 28th minute when, on the stretch, he headed over an empty net after Onyango had miss-judged Dolly’s cross to the back post.
The visitors were on the front foot in the opening exchanges of the second stanza and were unlucky not to level matters just before the hour-mark from a set-piece, after Sifiso Hlanti’s free header from close range was incredibly saved by Onyango.
Sundowns made a double change just after that, as Neo Maema replaced Gaston Sirino and Thabiso Kutumela came on for Kermit Erasmus, both for fresh legs.
Chiefs were made to pay for missing their chances as the Brazilians made it 2-0 soon after. Zwane played in Maema down the left-hand side and he got to the byline before cutting the ball back for Peter Shalulile to side-foot home from close range.
With 10 minutes to go, Chiefs had a chance to get themselves back in the game when they won a penalty in the 80th minute after Rivaldo Coetzee handballed in the area. Lebogang Manyama, who had come on to the pitch just five minutes before, stepped up but his effort smacked the right-hand upright and went away to safety.
Chiefs failed to recover from that as Sundowns closed out the win comfortably thereafter.
Royal AM have registered their first-ever DStv Premiership win, defeating Chippa United 1-0 at the Chatsworth Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
A penalty from Victor Letsoalo early in the second half saw Thwihli Thwahla claim their first three-pointer of the 2021-22 season and move from last place to 12th on the log, while the Chilli Boys suffered their first loss of the campaign under Gavin Hunt and remain in eighth – missing out on a chance to go top of the table.
The teams will be back in DStv Premiership action next Saturday, 18 September, with Chippa hosting Orlando Pirates and Royal visiting Kaizer Chiefs.