Gerald Modisane of Chippa United and Gaston Sirino of Mamelodi Sundowns during in a league match. Picture: Lefty Shivambu/Gallo Images.
The late Sundowns defender’s DNA results were received by his family about 50 days after he lost his life in a car accident on December 12 last year. The match was played in his honour and the Brazilians did justice for his memory, beating Chippa 2-0 to extend their lead at the summit of the standings.
Lebohang Maboe opened the scoring in the first-half and much to his relief, his goal was well-received by the Sundowns faithful as far as social media is concerned, as he received a lot of stick in the past few games. To his credit, his header was a thing of beauty as he received a square ball from Peter Shalulile and he hung himself in the air to connect on the header, beating Ayanda Mtshali.
Shalulile was again the provider 16 minutes later, this time around he assisted Gaston Sirino for his maiden goal of the season. Shalulile had the option to create space and take the shot himself as Chippa defenders did not bother marking him, making the mistake of assuming the referee will blow his whistle to blow offside. Shalulile then delivered the ball to Sirino on a silver platter.
Before Sirino found the back of the net, Chippa head coach Dan “Dance” Malesela took a bold step to make early substitutions just after 30 minutes into the game. He withdrew the duo of midfielder Avela Cezu and defender Gregory Damons, who were replaced by strikers Augustine Kwem and Thabiso Lebitso respectively.
The second stanza saw Downs applying more pressure on the visitors, even having a few penalty appeals. In the 66th minute, they were convinced that a penalty should have gone their way when Themba Zwane’s shot struck a defender’s arm in the box, but the experienced man in the middle, Victor Hlungwani, waved play on, signalling that the defender’s arms were not outstretched.
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