ANDREW MUCHINERIPI, Pretoria | Wednesday 4.30pm.
SUNDOWNS moved six points clear of Kaizer Chiefs at the top of the Castle Premiership standings on Tuesday night with an unimpressive 2-1 victory over mid-table Free State Stars at Loftus Versfeld.
Bennett Mnguni was the unlikely hero, slamming a quickly-taken free kick by Roger Feutmba past goalkeeper Mathew Setholo with just three minutes of normal time left.
Mnguni, a bit player on a Sundowns stage full of stars, replaced better-known Themba Mnguni midway through the second half at sparsely-populated Minolta Loftus.
The result was harsh on Stars, who recovered from conceding an early Frankie Schoeman goal to press forward in the second half and deservedly equalise through Democratic Republic of Congo striker Bunene Ngaduane.
In defence of Sundowns, they were missing defenders Musiu Ajao and Matthew Booth on Olympic Games duty, suspended midfielders Charles Motlohi and Isaac Shai and unavailable striker Marc Batchelor.
A Sundowns official said Batchelor has followed in the footsteps of Wilfred Mugeyi, Dumisa Ngobe, Jerry Sikhosana, and Mark Williams and gone to China for trials.
Success completed a Sundowns treble this season over the Eastern Free State club with a 1-0 away championship victory preceding a 2-0 triumph in the Rothmans Cup final.
Coach Paul Dolezar conceded his expensively-assembled team were lucky to collect maximum points and blamed the long, African Nations Cup- induced lay-off for the sluggish showing.