Rhulani Mokwena was not exaggerating when he described Mamelodi Sundowns’ 2-1 win over Kaizer Chiefs as not being a true reflection of what transpired at a packed Lucas Moripe Stadium in Atteridgeville yesterday.
Sundowns should have put to the slaughter and the coach’s frustration as his team fluffed chances was totally understandable in the DStv Premiership clash.
They nearly paid dearly for it as Chiefs grabbed an unlikely equaliser towards the end of the match, only for their goalkeeper and captain Brandon Petersen to gift Neo Maema the winner in the final minute.
“The better team won, for sure, by far. But if you don’t take your chances, this is what happens: you keep the game alive,” Mokwena said afterwards.
“We could have killed the game a long time ago. My disappointment is that we don’t take the chances. I mean, how many chances do we need? The winning goal comes in the last minute and it feels like it was a very, very tight game.”
The reality is that the game wasn’t tight, and though Petersen pulled off some good saves, Sundowns had no business giving their fans those heart palpitations.
Mokwena’s men were dominant from the start against a Chiefs side that appeared to have come to the Lucas Moripe Stadium to avoid defeat instead of attempting to win.
They went ahead in the 21st minute when Brazilian Lucas Ribeiro slotted home his second of the campaign following a back pass gone wrong for Chiefs.
While Chiefs looked a bit sprightly after the break, it was Sundowns who created the better chances but their talismanic striker Peter Shalulile had clearly left his scoring boots at home.
The Namibian international missed two half-chances in the first half, but then fluffed one he would ordinarily score blind-folded five minutes after the recess having been put through by Ribeiro.
He had another opportunity just after the hour mark, which he failed to use.
Young Thapelo Maseko, who was a livewire on the left wing, inexplicably shot wide on 67 minutes when tapping home the loose ball from a Petersen save looked easier.
The misses gave Chiefs confidence and Ranga Chivaviro saw his diving header deflecting off Mtobi Mvala’s out-stretched leg and go wide for a corner.
Some changes by coach Molefi Ntseki saw Amakhosi becoming much more vibrant, and one of those created the equaliser, Tebogo Potsane delivering the inch-perfect cross that found Ashley du Preez in between two defenders.
He simply stretched out a leg to connect with the ball to send Ronwen Williams scooping the ball up from the back of the net.
Ntseki lamented their poor start to the match.
“The mistake we made was to drop deep and allow them to dictate terms in terms of switching play, and the substitutions we made gave us the energy we needed going forward. We got a goal from a very good move, individual brilliance and putting them under pressure.”
It looked as though Chiefs would earn an unlikely draw, especially with Petersen having been so impressive with some great stops using his outstretched legs.
But he fluffed what appeared an innocuous volley from Maema to gift Sundowns the win.
“But after that goal, the concentration went down and we allowed them to get the second goal,” Ntseki said.
IOL Sport