Thabiso Kutumela left the field injured early on at the Lucas Moripe Stadium. Picture: Samuel Shivambu/BackpagePix.
Mamelodi Sundowns may have claimed the bragging rights in the Tshwane derby by beating SuperSport United 1-0 in the DStv Premiership, but that came at the expense of losing more personnel as Thabiso Kutumela went out in the 29th minute in what is suspected to be a groin injury.
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The influential midfielder’s departure changed Masandawana’s strategy of attack, forcing the coaching brains trust to restrategise when Gaston Sirino came on.
Sundowns ended up winning by just one goal, netted early in the match by Peter Shalulile.
“It was unfortunate to lose Kutumela because he was very influential in our high press and when he went off, Jamie Webber had a little bit of space and time and he has a very god diagonal ball, which made our life a little bit difficult because we lost some intensity,” said Downs co-head coach Manqoba Mngqithi.
“He was very important in our offensive play but it was also good to see what we can get from Gaston, Themba Zwane and Neo Maema at the same time and they created some good moments that should have resulted in goals. We were very unfortunate to not have scored in those situations,” he added.
His opposite number, Andre Arendse – who was deputising for head coach Kaitano Tembo on the bench, as the latter returned a positive Covid-19 result – was quite impressed with how his makeshift team held their own against the defending champions. The Spartans had some notable names missing from their line-up, following a Covid-19 outbreak in camp, such as goalkeeper and captain Ronwen Williams, Sipho Mbule and Teboho Mokoena.
“All we wanted from the team was to compete because that is what you are going to have to do for 90 minutes against Sundowns,” said Arendse.
“I feel we deserved something out of the game because when we won the ball we created chances and we will look how we can improve being clinical in front of goal. But I am impressed with the players who came in and pushed Sundowns in every department. Boalefa Pule was fantastic in goal because filling in for Ronwen is always a big task. When your goalkeeper is good for your team, it takes a lot of work off the defenders.”
