Sundowns take honours with victory over Pirates in Pretoria

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Mamelodi Sundowns continued where they left off before the Fifa World Cup-enforced break with a deserved 2-0 win over Orlando Pirates to register their seventh league victory in succession.

In the process, the Brazilians tightened their grip at the top of the DStv Premiership standings as they took their league points tally to 31 after 13 matches in this match that was played in wet conditions at Loftus on Friday.

They increased their lead over second-placed Richards Bay, who only return to action on New Year’s Eve against Swallows, to eight points as they continue with their mission to defend their league title.

Before the World Cup break, the Brazilians were the form side in the league with successive wins over Chippa United, Golden Arrows, AmaZulu, Marumo Gallants, Maritzburg United and Royal AM.

There was interest on how these teams were going to shape up after a break of almost two months due to the tournament in Qatar and coaches went with attack-minded starting line-ups.

For Sundowns, Rulani Mokwena included attackers Marcelo Allende, Gaston Sirino, Themba Zwane and Abubeker Nasir aimed at putting pressure on the Pirates central defence of Nkosinathi Sibisi and Tapelo Xoki.

Visiting coach Jose Riveiro was also adventurous as he started the match with the attacking prowess of Kermit Erasmus, Vincent Pule, Deon Hotto and Monnapule Saleng to go at Mothobi Mvala and Grant Kekana who marshalled the Sundowns defence.

During the early exchanges of the first half, goalkeepers Ronwen Williams of Sundowns and Mpontshane were called into action and had to pull off a number of good saves to keep their teams in the game.

Sundowns took the lead from an unlikely source in the form of defender for the day Mvala whose close-range header found the back of the net after he connected with a well-taken free kick from Allende after 41 minutes.

Mokwena was forced into a change at the beginning of the second half with Cassius Mailula replacing Ethiopian international Nasir who was stretchered off the field after a rough challenge by Mpontshane.

Sundowns secured all three points just after the hour mark when Mailula connected with a loose ball in the box after Mpontshane failed to clear a long-range shot from Neo Maema.

Sundowns return to action on Tuesday when they host Swallows but the Buccaneers have time to correct mistakes as they only return to action on Saturday next week against highly unpredictable Cape Town City.

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