Sundowns too good for Pirates to maintain perfect start

Mamelodi Sundowns continued their perfect start to the DStv Premiership as they extended the gap between themselves and Orlando Pirates with a 1-0 win over the Buccaneers at Orlando Stadium on Wednesday.

Rulani Mokwena’s men are surging away at the top of the table and while it is early in the campaign, it is already hard to see anyone catching Masandawana.

Pirates were expected to be one of the main challengers to Sundowns, but this was a bitter defeat, and if Jose Riveiro had hoped for vindication for his much changed line-up on Sunday against Jwaneng Galaxy in the 1-0 Caf Champions League defeat in Gaborone, it didn’t come.

Sundowns enjoyed much of the ball possession and looked like scoring early on with almost every attack. They were rewarded with a goal as early the 10th minute after Themba Zwane was brought down inside the box by Siphelo Baloni and the referee gave a penalty, though Pirates’ protests were loud,

Lucas Ribeiro took the responsibility to take the spot kick and made no mistake.

The home side were not getting things right in front of goal and gave away possession on too many occasions. 

Red follows yellow

Just before half time, Buccaneers striker Zakhele Lepasa was played through on goal, and Ronwen Williams rushed out of his penalty area, bringing his Bafana teammate down. The referee only issued a yellow card to Williams,  a decision that infuriated the players and the Pirates technical team, with assistant coach Mandla Ncikazi ending up getting a red card for his protests.

In the second period, Lepasa got an opportunity to level matters with a volley inside the box, but he blasted his shot over the bar . 

Even though Pirates had a better second half, especially after the introduction of Karim Kimvuidi, they still couldn’t get an equaliser.

In the end, it was Sundowns who closed out the match to make it seven wins out of seven in the league so far. Masandawana will now focus on reaching the MTN8 semifinal, as they meet Chiefs in the second leg on Saturday, while Pirates could meet them in the final, as they play their semifinal, second leg against Stellenbosch on Sunday.