Defending Premier League champions and log leaders Mamelodi Sundowns beat Moroka Swallows 1-0 at a rain-swept Loftus stadium on Saturday night.
It was the Brazilians’ seventh successive victory in PSL and CAF Champions League matches in which they have scored 18 times and conceded a mere four goals — soaring to a seemingly impregnable position in the PSL championship race with a four-point advantage over second-placed Ajax Cape Town.
But what will be more satisfying for Sundowns is the achievement of accounting for all three Soweto giants — Kaizer Chiefs, Orlando Pirates and now Swallows — within a period of 15 days.
It was a gritty Birds’ combination who gave the Brazilians their most severe test in the past seven matches, only succumbing to a slick 74th minute goal from the ice-cool Surprise Moriri following a clinical pass from substitute Brent Carelse.
The adjudicators of such matters decreed Sundowns goalkeeper Calvin Marlin to be the man of the match, but it might just as easily have been Nigerian international Greg Etafia in the Swallows’ goal — a fact denoting how little the teams differed during an evenly-matched 90 minutes.
Etafia produced the save of the match while keeping out a screaming 25m drive from Lerato Chabangu with the stealth of a panther.
Marlin managed to keep out two dangerous long-range shots from Mark Haskins in the opening 15 minutes.
Then Songwe Chalwe (Swallows) and Moriri missed golden opportunities of opening the score as play vacillated from one half of the pitch to the other.
”I think we have come out of the game with less than we deserved,” said Swallows coach Gavin Hunt. – Sapa