Sundowns brush aside Royal AM to extend unbeaten run

Mamelodi Sundowns brushed aside Royal AM with a comfortable 2-0 victory in a DStv Premiership encounter at the Harry Gwala Stadium on Tuesday evening. Peter Shalulile and Lesiba Nku were on target as the Brazilains extended their unbeaten record to 27 league games this season and 51 overall.

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The KwaZulu-Natal side played like a team resigned to losing the game and hardly threatened on their home turf. They showed no fight and desire to go forward against the Tshwane giants, who controlled the game with relative ease. Thwihli Thwahla are now two points ahead of 15^th-placed Richards Bay with two rounds of matches left to play.

The first half was almost a carbon copy of the one in Tshwane last Saturday with the home team happy to play with a low block. The only difference is that Sundowns went into the break leading 1-0 after Shalulile opened the scoring four minutes before half time with an acrobatic effort inside the box.

The goal came as a result of Royal AM goalkeeper Hugo Nyame’s poor clearance from a Nku header. The ball fell to Shalulile who smashed home into an empty net to score his eighth league goal of the campaign.

The Namibian striker picked up where he left off from the last game between the two teams where she scored the only goal of the match at Lucas Masterpieces Moripe Stadium. The league champions were good value for their lead after dominating the opening half.

Shalulile sparkles

Before Shalulile put Sundowns ahead, Neo Maema’s deflected left-footed effort hit the woodwork in the 35^th minute after being teed up by the Namibian on the edge of the area.

30-year-old striker Shaululile was unlucky not to grab his second of the game when his shot came off the upright shortly after the restart.

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Nku put the game to bed in the 74^th minute with a wonderful left-footed curler after cutting into the box from the right. Siyabonga Mabena won a penalty in injury time only for Marcelo Allende to miss the resultant spot kick, but the win was already secured.