Mamelodi Sundowns kept up their hopes of finishing second in the Castle Premiership after they scored a hard-fought 1-0 win over Supersport United in a Tshwane derby played at Loftus on Wednesday night.
There was no score at half-time.
The winner came from a diving header from Downs’ new teenage sensation Lerato Chabangu, who headed home a Peter Ndlovu cross in the 76th minute to notch the only goal of the night.
Despite the fact that no goals were scored, the first half proved a thrilling 45 minutes with plenty of action. Sundowns looked the better side in the opening 20 minutes as United battled to get their act together.
Downs’ Côte d’Ivoire winger Siaka Tiene squandered a chance to score in the 13th minute after a mistake from defender Phil Evans. With the goal at his mercy, Tiene shot wide.
But the highlight of the half was the brilliant save from Downs’ veteran former Bafana Bafana goalkeeper Andre Arendse in the 35th minute. He showed he has not lost his class when he denied Tony Tsabedze a goal after he collected a defence-splitting cross from teammate Lungisani Ndlela.
Two minutes later, Downs should have taken the lead, but Chabangu headed Ndlovu’s cross fractionally wide of the post when he was in a great position to score.
United ‘keeper Calvin Marlin fumbled a Ndlovu shot after 52 minutes but the Bafana goalkeeper managed to recover and stop Downs scoring.
Chabangu was wide in the 53rd and 64th minutes, but he made no mistake with a fine header to score the only goal 14 minutes from time.
In between, Marlin did well to make a fine save from Tiene in the 59th minute. Marlin was also on hand to stop Thabiso Rammile scoring six minutes later.
Arendse capped a superb performance with a reflex save to prevent Ricardo Katza scoring in the 69th minute.
United ran out of steam in the later stages of this absorbing derby. Downs move to second spot with 55 points, two more than Kaizer Chiefs, who still have two matches in hand. — Sapa