Mamelodi Sundowns asserted their status as the DSTV Premiership kings with a come from behind victory against Stellenbosch United.
Mamelodi Sundowns asserted their status as the DSTV Premiership kings with a come from behind 3-1 victory over Stellenbosch FC that saw them create a record and equal another at a wet Lucas Moripe Stadium on Wednesday night.
In winning this match, Sundowns broke the 31 match unbeaten streak set by Kaizer Chiefs back in 2005 when they went without defeat from January to November.
Sundowns are now on a 32 match unbeaten run.
The victory also saw the Brazilians equal the best start to the elite league season by matching Kaizer Chiefs record of eights successive wins at the beginning of a campaign.
Amakhosi had set that standard back in their 2014-2015 championship winning season under Stuart Baxter.
It was always going to take something special for any team to get close to that mark. And there can be no denying this Rhulani Mokwena’s team is special, their scintillation performances since the young coach took sole charge of technical matters as head coach in the middle of last season have proven.
They went into the match as favourites to gave their home crowd something to cheer about just as they did at the weekend when they beat Chiefs to book their place in the MTN8 final.
But in Stellies they were up against an opponent with their tails up, Steve Barker’s team having also been 1-0 victors in their MTN8 semi-final against Orlando Pirates only to be denied a maiden appearance in the final by the away goals rule following a 2-2 aggregate result.
Devin Titus had a splendid showing against Pirates despite not playing the full 90 minutes and he came back to continue where he left off by giving the visitors the lead just before the quarter hour.
A shock result looked to be in the offing as Stellies appeared hold their own.
Sundowns are renowned for their patience and faith in their style of play and they patiently probed and asked questions of their opposition.
Bongani Zungu, enjoying a rare start, tried in vain on 27 minutes to find Peter Shalulile but Sage Stephens was alert to the threat.
Almost immediately thereafter Stephens again came to the visitors’ rescue by stopping Thapelo Morena’ ball aimed at Shalulile.
But there was nothing the goalkeeper could do to deny Sundowns the equaliser following a corner kick on 31 minutes, the ball finding Grant Kekana feet on the far side of the box and the defender doing brilliantly to angle the ball into the net.
That was the turnaround and just three minutes later the Brazilians faithful were chanting happily as their side went into the lead via a fantastic free kick by Aubrey Modiba.
And then there was some fantastic news for the club late in the match when Shalulile selflessly set up the 16-year-old debutant Siyabonga Mabena to easily tap home.
The youngster could well find himself playing again this weekend when Sundowns host Rwandan side Bamumura FC in the second leg of their preliminary CAF Champions League dead rubber after they won the first leg 4-0.
@Tshiliboy
