Mamelodi Sundowns failed to reach a dominant position in the Premier Soccer League (PSL) title race when they missed an 85th-minute penalty and were held to a goalless draw by bottom club Free State Stars at the Charles Mopeli Stadium in Qwa Qwa on Sunday.
The villain as far as the Brazilians were concerned was Surprise Moriri, who shot meekly at the goal from the penalty spot when Sundowns appeared poised to gain three points and climb within a point of log leaders Orlando Pirates with a game in hand.
Sundowns are now three points behind Pirates with a game in hand, and the two teams are running neck-and-neck for top honours.
”You have to be philosophical about what happened,” said Sundowns technical spokesperson Daniel Mudau. ”Despite their lowly position, Stars are a tough nut to crack at home and coming away from Qwa Qwa with a point is not a train smash.”
Mudau said Sundowns missed several inviting opportunities.
”But we found it difficult gaining control of the game,” he added. ”I don’t think a draw was a bad result.”
Dynamos beat Ajax
Dynamos beat 10-man Ajax Cape Town 2-1 in a PSL match at Giyani Stadium in Tzaneen on Sunday afternoon. The teams were one-all at the break.
The visitors frightened the home team when Nfundo Shumang scored in the fifth minute with a cracking shot, beating Dynamos goalkeeper Guy Mutshi hands down.
Dynamos never let the setback diminish their fighting spirit and striker Mpho Maleka replied in the 39th minute with a beautifully headed goal that took the teams into the interval 1-1.
Ajax players started to struggle in midfield and in defence as Dynamos made numerous concerted attacks, threatening a second goal.
It eventually materialised as Gerald Modabi converted a chance in the 56th minute, making sure his team took home maximum points.
Immediately after the goal, referee Buyile Gubile gave Ajax’s Cyrille Mubiala his marching orders for remonstrating with the official over a decision — effectively ending the match as a contest.
Dynamos move up from 12th position to ninth, with 15 points, while Ajax remain in fifth place.
Leopards win
Black Leopards beat Golden Arrows 1-0 in their PSL encounter played at the Thohoyandou Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
Both teams failed to score during a listless first 45 minutes.
Leopards, however, came out with more intent in the second half and were rewarded seven minutes after the restart with a deserved goal to hand a wake-up call to the visitors.
The damage was done by striker Robert Ngambi, who received the ball in the box and quickly pounced to fire the ball into the far left-hand corner.
The strike ensured Leopards collected three valuable points at home, while Arrows returned home empty-handed.
From this win, Leopards move from position 10 to eighth on the log with 16 points, while Arrows remain in third place with 18 points from 13 games.
Celtic, Supersport draw
There was a dramatic and bizarre finish to a rather dull PSL match when Bloemfontein Celtic and Supersport United played to a 1-1 draw in Bloemfontein on Sunday.
With five minutes of regulation play remaining, few would have predicted the unusual finish to what had been a lacklustre match up to then.
An own goal by each team in the dying minutes of the match meant a share of the spoils.
First, Celtic thought they had wrapped up the win when Sibusiso Gaka headed into his own net, but the hosts comically handed back the initiative two minutes later when a goal-mouth scramble saw David Madidilane poke the ball into his own goal.
Incredibly, Celtic did nearly snatch the win in the final few seconds, but a brilliant save by Calvin Marlin denied Siyabonga Nkosi a potential match-winning goal, with a fine low save to his left.
Marlin was in decent form and helped his team out both just before and minutes after the half-time break.
Supersport United, still smarting from the Supa8 loss to Celtic, had the better chances and while they were not clear-cut, they still should have fared better.
Celtic also enjoyed a chance or two, but in the end a draw was a fair result. — Sapa