Johannesburg – Defending champions Mamelodi Sundowns moved back into second position in the Premiership race and maintained their challenge to log leaders Kaizer Chiefs with a 2-0 victory over Free State Stars at the Charles Mopeli Stadium on Saturday night.
It was a workmanlike, comprehensive and essential success for the Brazilians to stay in the title race after they had been reduced to 10 men for the final 30 minutes following the sending off of Mzikayise Mashaba for a crunching second yellow-card offence.
Mashaba was sent off with Sundowns only leading 1-0 and their supporters in the small crowd would have felt uneasy about holding onto the advantage while playing a man short.
Instead, the Brazilians showed their mettle by scoring a second goal in the 72nd minute and playing their most authoritative football of the game when reduced to 10 players.
Despite this, Stars put up a gritty performance and made life difficult for their more-vaunted opponents to the end, although the defeat left them decidedly more vulnerable in the relegation zone.
AmaZulu, Platinum Stars and Moroka Swallows, the three teams below Stars in the log, have all played fewer games than the Free State team and could make matters more precarious for them when the match tally is evened out.
Stars, however, held their own until what turned out to be the critical 45th minute of the opening half when top PSL scorer Cuthbert Malajila recorded his fourth goal in four games with a precisely-placed, loping header.
Then the tricky Khama Billiat ended his recent scoring drought by guiding the ball through a packed goalmouth of defenders and into the corner of the net.
Sundowns goalkeeper Denis Oyango was chosen “Man of the Match” after making successive spectacular saves in the space of 60
seconds midway through the first half from thunderous Abdul Basit Adam and Danny Venter piledrivers.
Ironically, however, it was the youthful Johnny Mathole in the Stars' goal who had three times as many saves to make as his Sundowns' counterpart and emerged with flying colours.
And Mathole's performance, in which he made impressive saves from Billiat, Malajila, Thabo Langerman and Sundowns captain Alje Schut in turn, was made more commendable by the fact that he suffered what appeared a serious thigh injury in the 25 minute and courageously limped through the remainder of the game. – Sapa