Pretoria – SuperSport United’s winning streak under coach Gordon Igesund came to an abrupt end after a crushing 4-1 defeat to Maritzburg United at the Lucas Moripe Stadium on Wednesday.
Steve Komphela’s Maritzburg dealt the former Bafana Bafana coach his first loss since taking over from Cavin Johnson last month.
Maritzburg striker Terrence Mandaza opened the scoring in the 42nd minute and scored again in the 59th minute to put his team ahead, with Lebogang Manyama equalising in the 55th minute.
Midfielder Mondli Cele extended the lead for the visitors to put the game out of reach in the 66th minute for the Tshwane outfit, while Mohammed Anas put the cherry on top to round-up the victory in the 76th minute.
SuperSport battled on the night and were unable to take control of the encounter in front of their home supporters.
Goalkeeper Ronwen Williams made some early stops to keep SuperSport in contention as the opposition launched an early onslaught.
During the opening sequence, SuperSport were the first to get a chance at goal, but winger Thuso Phala failed to capitalise on a cross by Clayton Daniels.
Maritzburg goalkeeper Virgil Vries was alert early in the encounter as he tipped away a long range shot by Manyama in the eighth minute.
In the 15th minute it was Phala’s turn to whip a cross into the box, but could not find a teammate.
With Matsatsantsa looking to make full use of home ground advantage, Dove Wome and David Mathebula exchanged passes in search of that elusive goal but were stopped in their tracks by the watchful counterparts.
Before the opening goal, Mandaza had a free header but he could only watch as it sailed wide of the target.
Three minutes before the break, however, Mandaza converted a header to open the scoring for the visitors.
In the second half, Manyama would get another crack at the goalmouth and this time he made no mistake as he beat Vries to level the scores for SuperSport. – Sapa