10-man Sundowns scrape past Polokwane City

10-man Mamelodi Sundowns have scraped past Polokwane City to reach the semifinals of the MTN8 following a narrow 1-0 win at the Lucas Masterpieces Moripe Stadium. 

An own-goal by City defender Thabanag Matuludi in extra-time was enough for the Brazilians to set up a clash against Stellenbosch FC in the last four.

Sundowns had to play for over 37 minutes with a man short after Denis Onyango was shown a straight red card after handling the ball from outside his area with seven minutes of regulation time remaining.

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Rise and Shine City produced a great defensive effort before an inadvertently Matuludi put the ball into his own net trying to clear his lines late in the first half of extra time.

As expected, it was attack versus defence in the opening exchanges of the game.

Sundowns took the game to City who offered very little going forward. For all their lion’s share of ball possession and numerous goal scoring opportunities, the score remained goalless at the break of the lucrative winner-take-all top eight competition.

Peter Shalulile hit the upright twice in a space of two minutes as the Limpopo side rode their luck in a slightly windy afternoon in Tshwane. City nearly scored against the run of play but Onyango did well to deny Cole Alexander 20 minutes into the game.

Interestingly, none of the new Masandawana signings made the team. Kobamelo Kodisang, Arthur Sales, Kegan Johannes and Asekho Tiwani all had to watch from the stands as they got familiar with their surroundings.

Sundowns were not as fluid after the restart against a stubborn City defence. Clear-cut chances were few and far between, a stark contrast from the glut of goal scoring opportunities they created in the opening 45 minutes.

The tension was palpable amongst the Sundowns faithful after Onyago was sent for an early shower in the 83^rd minute. The league champions had already used their three windows of substitutes and defender Mosa Lebusa was forced into goal.

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Masandawana had to hold on until extra-time to bring on Jody February as a direct replacement for the Ugandan goalkeeper.

Cape Town City  and Orlando Pirates will contest the other double legged semifinal with the champions set to pocket R10 million.