NELSPRUIT – SuperSport United bounced back from their cup defeat on the weekend in emphatic style with a 3-0 victory over Golden Arrows in a league fixture at the Mbombela Stadium on Tuesday night.
Matsatsantsa, who lost on penalties to Bloemfontein Celtic after 120 minutes of Telkom Knockout action on Saturday night, came out of the blocks firing and had three early chances on goal through Aubrey Modiba, Reneilwe Letsholonyane and Jeremy Brockie.
Arrows could, however, have sneaked in front when an error in the SuperSport defence saw Knox Mutizwa in on goal, but his attempted chip went over the bar.
The Pretoria outfit continued to ask questions of the Abafana Bes’Thende defence, and the breakthrough came when the evergreen Letsholonyane played a one-two with Brockie before coolly beating Nkosingiphile Gumede.
The Durban team failed to muster much of a response, and they found themselves 2-0 down just before halftime when Modiba prodded in from close range after Gumede had been unable to hold on to Brockie’s header.
After a brisk opening to the second period by both sides, SuperSport increased their cushion to three when Modiba beat Gumede with a shot from the left-hand side of the box after 52 minutes played.
While home keeper Ronwen Williams did make a good save to keep out Wayde Jooste, Matsatsantsa could well have added to the scoreline had Brockie and Kingston Nkhatha made better use of their opportunities, while Bradley Grobler hit the post.
Eric Tinkler’s side, already MTN8 winners this season, are playing catch-up domestically due to their participation in the CAF Confederation Cup.
They have now claimed 10 points from their last four league matches.
Arrows went into the match in second position, but are now without a victory in their last five league outings.