Durban — Mamelodi Sundowns started the second half of their league campaign on a good note by recording a comfortable 2-0 win over Chippa United at Loftus Versfeld.
Andile Jali appeared to have scored his first goal of the season to give Downs the lead on the verge of half-time. Themba Zwane first had his shot blocked before the ball fell to Jali who fired beyond the reach of Chilli Boys goalkeeper Ismail Watenga, taking a deflection of Chippa’s Sandile Mthethwa.
The goal was later adjudged to have been an own goal from Mthethwa.
Teboho Mokoena scored his first goal for his new club, doubling Sundowns lead late in the second half. A short corner was fired into the path of the former SuperSport United player before he fired into the back of the net from 25 yards out.
The Chilli Boys killed off their chances of getting something from the game before the half hour mark as Siphesihle Mkhize was given a red-card following a dangerous tackle at knee height on Thabiso Kutumela.
The red-card caused Kurt Lentjies side to change their formation as they began using the 5-3-1 formation.
Chippa did not retreat after the red-card and created some opportunities of their own. However, it was always going to be a matter of time before Masandawana would score and they did on the verge of half-time through Andile Jali.
The encouraging thing for Sundowns is that they won the game with minimal effort. Had they exerted themselves, the scoreline would have been higher as Chippa were never in the game from start to finish.
At this stage of the season, Sundowns priority will be to try and win the CAF Champions League and Nedbank Cup. It will take arguably the biggest upset in South African football history to now prevent them from winning a fifth consecutive league title and so they will need to cleverly and strategically rotate players for the remainder of their domestic league fixtures.
Sundowns will next be in action on Friday as they play against Al-Hilal in their first CAF Champions League group stage game of the season.
Meanwhile, Chippa United will next play against Royal AM at the Sisa Dukashe Stadium next Saturday.
IOL Sport