/ 8 March 2007

Hungry Sundowns skin Leopards

The rampant Brazilians demolished the Black Leopards 4-0 at the Peter Mokaba Stadium on Wednesday night.

The defending champions now head second-placed Ajax Cape Town by 10 points with a game in hand.

As for Chiefs, they are wallowing in eighth place, 13 points behind the log leaders after playing one extra match.

A dizzying run of successes have left Sundowns unbeaten in 12 games in various competitions, with 11 wins and a draw in all and eight successive wins from their last eight PSL matches.

Leopards held their own for the opening three-quarters of the game and only succumbed in the face of a late goal flurry. They were desperately unlucky not to have opened the score on more than one occasion before classy Venezualen striker Jose Torrealba gave Sundowns the lead in the 17th minute with a pin-point header from Vuyo Mere’s corner.

Leopards were searching doggedly for an equaliser immediately after halftime, but Sundowns seemed to have the knack of producing goals like a magician plucking rabbits out of a hat — with a scorching ground shot from Surprise Moriri making the score 2-0 in the 62nd minute.

A sensational save from Sundowns goalkeeper Calvin Marlin prevented Mandla Zwane from scoring for Leopards in the 79th minute.

The home players finally capitulated in the closing stages when Godfrey Sapula demonstrated an unusual talent for South African soccer by running off the ball with ingenuity and imagination to score a brace of goals in the final 10 minutes. – Sapa