Sundowns Edge Maritzburg

20 November 2011

ABSA Premiership

Date: 20 November 2011

Result: Mamelodi Sundowns 1-0 Maritzburg United

Venue: Loftus

Referee: Philip Tinyane

Sundowns bounced up into second place on the league table after seeing out a scrappy 1-0 win over Maritzburg United at Loftus on Sunday.

The match was fairly contested throughout with Kurt Leintjies causing constant problems for the Sundowns defence before he was struck with injury in the second period.

Teko Modise fizzed a powerful shot over the bar in the opening stages before the hosts opened the scoring in the 21st minute.

Punch Masenamela played a neat one-two with Modise before picking out Pelembe in the middle who buried the ball into the bottom corner.

Katlego Mphela should have made it 2-0 soon after when the ball trickled through the defence to reach him but the striker pulled his shot wide of the target.

Leintjies was stopped on a few occasions by a last ditch tackle and Maritzburg almost brought the game level just before the break but Prince Olomu saw his shot cleared off the line.

The game got fairly scrappy after the interval with both sides trying their their luck from distance. Hlompo Kekana had probably the most notable strike which bounced on its way to gaol but Shu-Aib Walter held it comfortably.

Nyasha Mushekwi then had a great chance to sink a second for the Brazilians when he performed a sublime turn to ditch two defenders but he fluffed his shot and the ball dribbled wide.

Both sides were then hit with injuries in the final few minutes with Leintjies pulling a hamstring after Maritzburg had already made their three substitutions. Rheece Evans then went down, which forced Leintjies to come back on.

Sundowns then saw Modise go of for treatment and confusion reigned after Mphela had to come off after a nasty clash of heads left him with a gash which had to be patched up. Modise had not been officially substituted and could have come back on but the match was dwindling down in the meantime as Sundowns held on for the win.

Sundowns: Wayne Sandilands, Wandisile Letlabika, Punch Masenamela, Siyanda Xulu, Methods Mwanjali, Eslias Pelembe, Richard Henyekane (Nyasha Mushekwi 68'), Surprise Moriri (Themba Zwane 36'), Tsholofelo Modise (Mabhudi Khenyeza 90'), Hlompo Kekana, Katlego Mphela.

Martizburg: Shu-Aib Walters, Rheece Evans, Thabang Matuka, Byron Hendricks, Mor Diouf, Felix Obada (Morne Davids 31'), Prince Olomu, Kulegani Madondo, Michael Morton (Jabulani Ncubeni 65'), Fadlu Davids (Renaldo Donnelly 58'), Kurt Lentjies.

Goal scorers: Elias Pelembe (Sundowns) 21'