Sundowns take lead of Group B after slender win over Al-Hilal

It was a good day in the office for Mamelodi Sundowns who marched right to the summit of Group B in the Caf Champions League on Saturday evening, beating Al-Hilal Omdurman by two goals to no reply.

Mosa Lebusa opened the scoring as early as the 10th minute and he was assisted by Lyle Lakay who delivered a delightful ball for Lebusa to head the hosts into the lead.

The first half saw the sides exchanging blows and Downs looked to be the dominant side but the second stanza took a different twist as the hosts were made to chase and defend for most periods. Denis Onyango was called into action a couple of times but he always proved to be big and commanding in this goal area as nothing was good enough from Al-Hilal to pass the Masandawana goalie.

Sundowns’ technical team looked for different ideas from their bench as they told the Pacey Lesedi Kapinga, together with the witty Kermit Erasmus to get their gear on as they replaced marksman Themba Zwane and Sphelele Mkhulise just after the hour mark.

Erasmus made sure that Sundowns supporters rest assured knowing that they will go top of the group as he scored near the referee’s optional time to give Downs as a two-goal cushion heading in the death of the game.

The visitors, however, were hell-bent of fighting until the fat lady sang as they continued to be a menace for Downs, playing a string of long balls trying to find Vinny Kombe, who always ran into the brick-wall of Lebusa and Ricardo Nascimento, who were immovable forces in front of Onyango.

In other Group B action, Congolese giants TP Mazembe were held to an unexpected draw by CR Belouizdad who held the five-time Champions League holders to a goalless draw in their fortress.

The Brazilians will look to do one better than Mazembe as their next appointment in the Champions League is a trip to Algeria where they will confront Belouizdad.

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