Shalulile brace gets Sundowns back on winning track

A brace by Peter Shalulile saw Mamelodi Sundowns bounce back to winning ways with a commanding 3-0 win over Cape Town City in a Betway Premiership encounter at Loftus Versfeld on Wednesday night.

Lucas Ribeiro marked his return to the starting XI with a goal after missing out on the 1-0 defeat to Polokwane City last Sunday due to suspension. His absence was felt in Sundowns’ previous game but he made up for it with an assist as well.

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Shalulile grabbed the headlines with a goal in each half as the Brazilians warmed-up for Saturday’s upcoming clash against Kaizer Chiefs with a much needed win after the blip in Polokwane.

The Namibian latched on to through ball Riveiro in the 15th minute to smash past Darren Keet. The Citizens goalkeeper will feel he should have done better but Shalulile’s venomous strike beat him at the near post.

Ribeiro went from provider to scorer eight minutes before the break to put Masandawana 2-0 up following a lovely cross from the right by Khuliso Mudau. The left-footed Brazilian only needed one touch to hit the back of the net.

It was a half where Sundowns dominated and City were not at the races. Sundowns stretched their lead seven minutes after the restart with Shalulile getting his brace after being set up by Iqraam Rayners inside the box.

The defending champions will now head into their eagerly-awaited Carling Knockout quarterfinal match against Amakhosi with their tails up. Their coach Manqoba Mngqithi called for his charges to respond following their first league defeat and they did it style.

They could have scored more goals had they been more clinical and used their chances in the second half. Mngqithi went back to some of his tried and tested troops after making wholesale changes against City a couple of days ago.

Fresh from attending the Ballon d’Or Awards in France, Ronwen Williams was back in between the sticks with Denis Onyango relegated to the bench. It went from bad to worse for the visitors when Aprocius Petrus was shown a second yellow card with 10 minutes left. 

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Downs are now in second place behind log leaders Orlando Pirates, who have won all their opening six league matches of the new campaign.