ANDREW MUCHINERIPI, Johannesburg | Monday 11.00am.
LONG-TIME pacesetters Sundowns lost and regained the Castle Premiership lead within 150 minutes on Sunday after defeating Ajax Cape Town 2-0 at Bellville Stadium in Cape Town.
Alex Bapela scored midway through the first half for the ‘Brazilians’
and Joel Masilela made sure the defending champions returned to Gauteng with three points by adding a second 22 minutes before the end.
The first goal owed much to the madness of Ajax defender Duran Francis, whose attempted dribble out of defence saw him lose possession to Bapela, and his boots to boot.
Masilela tapped the ball in at the far post after a more convential build-up featuring Bapela and captain Daniel Mudau, two of five Sundowns players off to Ghana next month with Bafana Bafana for the African Nations Cup.
Sundowns have 42 points, Orlando Pirates 39, Kaizer Chiefs 37, surprise packets Classic 35, Hellenic 32 and Manning Rangers 32 and expect the 1999-2000 champions to emerge from the top three.
Pirates temporarily replaced Sundowns at the top after a significant if lucky 1-0 victory at Rangers courtesy of a first-half injury-time goal from who else but bang-in-form Zambian striker Dennis Lota.
Caretaker AmaZulu coach Gavin Lane may not have found a winning
formula, but he has stopped the rot with his second match in charge producing a second 1-1 draw, this time at home to Wits University.
Former national coach Clive Barker resigned last week after the Usuthu had suffered five consecutive league defeats that left the Durban club on the edge of the relegation zone.
Bush Bucks moved out of the danger area thanks to a 1-0 home win over poor travellers Bloemfontein Celtic with Peter Khoabane snatching the lone goal just before half-time off a William Mugeyi corner.