Mamelodi Sundowns moves up to third in the Absa Premiership standings after claiming a 2-1 victory over Black Leopards at the Thohoyandou Stadium on Wednesday, reports DYLAN APPOLIS.
Luc Eymael’s men won their second game of the season with a narrow 1-0 victory over Bloemfontein Celtic over the weekend.
Meanwhile, Pitso Mosimane’s side came into this game high in confidence after hammering Côte d’Or 11-1 to advance to the Caf Champions League group stages.
The last time the two sides met, Sundowns came out on top after securing a 1-1 win in Limpopo.
Sundowns got off to a good start and showed their intent in the opening exchanges of the match.
Jonas Mendes came to his side’s rescue in the seventh minute when he got down well to keep out Themba Zwane’s effort from the edge of the box.
Hlompho Kekana nearly found the back of the net six minutes later after Leopards failed to clear a corner before attempting an effort from range, which Mendes collected.
Sundowns eventually broke the deadlock in the 24th minute when Jose Ali Meza made an excellent run to beat his man before whipping a ball into the path of Zwane, who made no mistake to bury his effort.
The visitors managed to double their lead a minute before half time when Chris Katjiukua directed Gaston Sirino’s low cross into his own net while attempting to clear the ball from danger.
Mendes was tested early in the second half when he made a save at the near post to keep out Zwane’s snapshot from the edge of the area.
Sirino came close to extending his side’s lead in the 54th minute but his curling free kick sailed over the crossbar.
Mendes was called into action again two minutes later when Lyle Lakay forced the Leopards keeper into making a great save to keep the scoreline at 2-0 for Sundowns.
Leopards managed to pull a goal back in the 58th minute with a neat finish into the top corner from Mwape Musonda.
Musonda nearly levelled matters six minutes later but his volley sailed just wide of the upright.
Mosimane made his first change of the game in the 71st minute when Lebohang Maboe came on for Ali Meza.
Maboe nearly made an instant impact four minutes later but failed to hit the target from close range.
Sundowns made their second substitution with 10 minutes left to play when Zwane was replaced by Tebogo Langerman before Sammy Seabi came on for Sirino minutes later.
Kekana should have found the back of the net in stoppage time with a well-worked shot from range, but Mendes came off his line to keep out his effort.
However, Sundowns held on to their lead over Leopards until the final whistle to walk away with all three points.
