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Sundowns fail to catch United

Pretoria - Despite Santos playing more than 25 minutes with only ten men, Sundowns were still unable to find the goal that would see them catch SuperSport United at the top of the Absa Premiership. ‘Downs and the People’s Team played to a goalless draw at the Super Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

With the chance to go tie atop the league standings with SuperSport, the Brazilians certainly didn’t play like title contenders in the first half. In fact, the first 45 minutes saw Santos as the better of the two sides.

The People’s Team were much more creative in attack, often using the width of the pitch when going forward. In defence Santos were also very impressive as the Sundowns one-man-attack, in the form of Katlego Mphela, struggled to penetrate a very stubborn back four.

The Brazilians did look good early on, especially Elias Pelembe, when he let loose with a powerful shot from the edge of the 18 yard box. Unfortunately for his side his shot sailed inches wide of the upright. But that was about as good as it got for ‘Downs in the first half.

From there on out the Brazilians defence struggled to deal with the pace of the Santos attack. Romano Scott in particular was good down the right flank often supplying dangerous crosses into the box. The Sundowns keeper, however, was in fine form on the day and on regular occasions cut out the crosses with dominant displays of goalkeeping.

Brian Baloyi was really good in the 13th minute when he produced a fantastic save to deny Erwin Isaacs. Isaacs managed to find some space on the edge of the ‘Downs area and with a quick turn he managed to get a shot in on target, but his effort was superbly saved by Baloyi.

Sadly, at the other end of the pitch the Santos’ keeper, Tshepo Motsoeneng, suffered a terrible injury and had to be substituted in the 16th minute, which saw Lee Langevelt replace him.

That incident did not disturb the Santos team that much as they continued to press forward in attack and almost found the opening goal in the 22nd minute.

Erwin Isaacs got in behind the Brazilians' defence following a ball over the top and as he made his way toward goal Baloyi came off his line. Isaacs proceeded to try and chip the keeper, but Baloyi managed to make another good save parrying his effort away for a corner.

Santos then looked to have gone in front a couple of minutes later when Eleazar Rodgers met a cross from Scott and fired it into the back of the net, but the goal was ruled out for off-sides.

Sundowns happily welcomed the half time whistle as they were desperately in need of a break to reassess the situation and discuss how they would break down the Santos defence.

The second half saw the Brazilians try to change things up immediately as they opted for a more attacking approach, which saw Surprise Moriri replace Franklin Cale.

The game took a bit of a sour turn in the 64th minute when Santos were reduced to ten men after a dangerous looking tackle by Bonginkosi Macala. After just coming onto the field, Macala was sent off after stamping on Mphela’s foot when contesting for the ball. It was a very speculative decision by the referee and directly influenced the rest of the game.

From there on out Sundowns mounted attack after attack on the Santos goal, but time and again they failed to break down their defence.

In fact, the People’s Team had the best chance of the half when Mogogi Gabonamangi struck the woodwork in the 81st minute with a powerful 25 yard shot.

In the end no team could find the winning goal and the side’s were forced to share the points

Mamelodi Sundowns (0) 0
Santos (0) 0

Teams

Sundowns: Baloyi – Booth, Gaxa, Xulu, Mdledle, Cale (Moriri 46’), L Mokoena (Vilakazi 75’), Nyandoro, Pattison (Chabangu 83’), Pelembe, Mphela

Santos: Motsoeneng (Langevelt 16’) – W Arendse, Gabonamong, Ntloana, Skippers, Otieno, Isaacs, King, Van Beulen, Scott (Mcala 57’), Rodgers (Powell 69’)

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