Mamelodi Sundowns and Cape Town City were forced to share the spoils after playing to a 1-1 draw in their Absa Premiership clash at the Lucas Moripe Stadium on Tuesday evening, writes DYLAN APPOLIS.
Pitso Mosimane’s side came into this clash hoping for a win on home soil following their 1-1 draw with Chippa United at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium last Wednesday.
The Brazilians currently occupy fourth place on the PSL table after claiming four points from their first two games of the new season.
Meanwhile, Benni McCarthy’s side came into this encounter after claiming bragging rights in their previous league clash by securing a narrow 1-0 victory over Cape rivals Stellenbosch FC at Athlone Stadium on 10 August.
The Citizens are now placed sixth in the league standings with four points from their first two games.
The last time the two sides met in Tshwane, Sundowns came out victorious after securing a 3-2 win thanks to goals from Lebohang Maboe, Anthony Laffor and Phakamani Mahlambi.
The home side showed their intent early on and came close to taking the lead after three minutes. Sibusiso Vilakazi played a cross to Lyle Lakay, who fired his effort at goal which deflected off Peter Leeuwenburgh and on to the crossbar. Then, it rebounded to safety.
Hlompho Kekana broke the deadlock five minutes later when he fired the ball into the back of the net after unleashing a thunderous strike from range with Leeuwenburgh rooted to the spot.
Leeuwenburgh came to his side’s rescue in the 23rd minute when he made a brilliant save to deny Kekana’s long-range effort.
Bradley Ralani forced a fine save out of Denis Onyango moments later before Edmilson Dove fired the ball home from the resulting corner.
The visitors had a chance to take the lead in the 27th minute, but Keanu Cupido headed his effort against the left post.
With five minutes left to play, Kermit Erasmus did well to bring down the ball before playing Thato Mokeke through on goal, but the midfielder failed to connect with the ball in a one-on-one situation with Onyango.
The game went into the interval with the scoreline locked at 1-1.
The home side picked up where they left off in the first half and produced the first chance of the second half when Vilakazi hit the upright after City failed to clear their lines from a well-placed corner.
Sundowns nearly took the lead for the second time when Gaston Sirino’s corner hit the upright after it was diverted off Wayne Arendse.
At the other end, Erasmus made his way through the Sundowns defence as he looked to place his effort into the bottom corner, but failed to direct his effort on target as it sailed wide of goal.
Mosimane made his first substitution of the game with Keletso Makgalwa replacing Gaston Sirino in the 62nd minute.
However, he was then replaced by Anele Ngcongca following an ankle injury from a Thamsanqa Mkhize challenge.
McCarthy made two substitutions minutes apart from each other when he brought on Mtnembu and Kewuti to replace Erasmus and Ralani, respectively.
City made their final change in the 85th minute when Mpho Makola was replaced by Riyaad Norodien, while Sundowns took off Vilakazi for Siphelele a minute later.
Both sides pressed forward in the closing stages but neither were able to find the winning goal, only to share the spoils at the Lucas Moripe Stadium.
