It took Mamelodi Sundowns 75 minutes to keep their Absa Premiership title hopes alive against a stubborn Platinum Stars in a no-holds-barred league clash played at Atteridgeville’s Super Stadium on Wednesday night.
The 1-0 win, thanks to a diving header from Surprise Moriri, moved Downs three points behind log leaders and defending champions SuperSport United as the title chase heads for a grandstand finish between these two Pretoria city rivals.
The Brazilians have a match in hand which they will play against Santos at the same venue on Sunday afternoon after which both sides will have three fixtures remaining.
But Downs were made to struggle against Stars who were in no mood to surrender three points and, at the end of a tough night, Downs were made to work hard for their win which means that the title race will go down to the wire.
Downs were all over Stars in the opening half, hitting the woodwork twice and forcing their visitors on the back foot for most of the first 45 minutes.
Stars were reduced to hitting back with the occasional counter attack.
The home side, roared on by an appreciative crowd of 10 000 fans, made their intentions clear from the start when Lebohang “Cheeseboy” Mokoena had a goal-bound shot blocked inside the Stars six-yard area in the sixth minute.
Stars struck back four minutes later when Almiro Lobo headed Dillon Sheppard’s pin-point free kick marginally over the crossbar.
Then, a minute later, Sundowns’ giant central defender Matthew Booth shaved the paint on the Stars crossbar with a powerful close-range header.
Defending to the death
The Brazilians kept pounding away at the overworked Stars defence and were unlucky when skipper Esrom Nyandoro crashed his rocket off the upright in the 27th minute with Stars keeper Tapuwa Kapini well beaten.
Matthew Pattison was having a good game in midfield for the Brazilians and was also unfortunate not to score when his shot skimmed wide of the target on 36 minutes.
But somehow Stars rode their luck. The home side continued to pile on the pressure and Mozambican international Elias Pelembe shook his head in frustration and disbelief when he latched onto a great cross from Pattison and his shot, from close range, cannoned off the woodwork five minutes from the break.
Mokoena, whose career has taken on a new lease of life since he jumped off the sinking Orlando Pirates ship to join Downs this season, showed his incredible skills by waltzing around the bemused Stars defenders and forcing Kapini to make a stunning save in the 50th minute to deny the championship contenders a breakthrough.
Downs kept pushing for that elusive goal and kept the Stars defence under a lot of pressure. But Stars never gave up and Sheppard shot a 20-metre free kick over the crossbar in the 69th minute which almost gave the Downs bench multiple heart attacks.
But the pressure had to count and Stars cracked when Mokoena sent in a superb cross from the left which Moriri did well to head home with 15 minutes remaining and sent home the Brazilians faithful still hopeful of stopping United from winning three consecutive league championship titles.
But Moriri also showed that he is still a force to be reckoned with when he forced Kapini to fist his powerful shot over this crossbar in the 85th minute as the home side went for the kill.
In other Absa Premiership matches played on Wednesday, Orlando Pirates beat AmaZulu 2-0, Moroka Swallows beat Ajax Cape Town 2-1, and Bloemfontein Celtic beat Jomo Cosmos 1-0 while Mpumalanga Black Aces earned a rare win, beating Maritzburg United 1-0. — Sapa