A blunder by Brandon Petersen handed Mamelodi Sundowns a second straight victory in the DStv Premiership following their 2-1 win over Kaizer Chiefs at the Lucas Moripe Stadium.

The custodian made a careless pass to new player Edson Castillo, and Castillo lost the ball. Lucas Ribeiro of Brazil scored in 21 minutes near Pretoria.

After Ashley du Preez tied the game with six minutes left, Petersen gave Sundowns all three points by letting a harmless shot from Neo Maema go through his raised gloves and into the goal.

Title-holders Sundowns should have won long before the 90th minute, when they scored the game-winning goal in front of a sold-out crowd of 24,000 people on a public holiday.

It was hard on Petersen because he had to make saves, often with his legs spread out, after halftime to keep Chiefs’ hopes of not losing the second-round league match alive.

Ribeiro, who joined Sundowns from Belgian team SK Beveren during the offseason, had a dream start to the season when he scored in the first few games.

The 24-year-old has a good touch in the penalty area, which is something that many South African players lack in a league where clear-cut chances to score are wasted all too often.

Sundowns are trying to win their seventh straight league title. Chiefs, on the other hand, haven’t won a trophy in eight years, even though they’ve won on average more than one every year since they started in 1970.

Based on their loss to Sundowns, in which Du Preez’s equaliser was their only shot on goal, Chiefs may not be able to win a trophy this season.

Sundowns are already in first place and are ahead of Cape Town City by goal difference. Cape Town City beat Moroka Swallows 1-0 away in Soweto thanks to a goal from Taahir Goedeman.

Pablo Franco, who used to work for Real Madrid, is the coach of AmaZulu. They tied 0-0 with SuperSport United in Durban after Thembela Sikhakhane was sent off.

Photo by Samuel Shivambu/BackpagePix