A stunning brace from Peter Shalulile and a goal from Lucas Ribeiro has seen Mamelodi Sundowns claim three points at home following a 3-0 triumph over Cape Town City on Wednesday night at Loftus Versfeld.
This win became Downs’ first against the Cape Town side since 2022.Bafana Ba Style were back at home, after going away at the weekend to Polokwane, where they recorded their first league defeat.
They made a return at Loftus Versfeld looking to bounce back and pick up maximum points, but first, they had to break an assertive Cape Town City whose high press was giving them problems in the early stages of the match.
The visitors triggered the first big chance of the match but Grant Kekana’s great surveillance helped deny them an opener as Kekana delivered the ball to Ronwen Williams.
The breakthrough came on the 16th minute through Peter Shalulile, who registered his first league goal. It was Lucas Ribeiro who dropped the ball in the pocket for Shalulile who then slotted it in the box beautifully.
Masandawana would then launch more efforts inside the first 30 minutes of the encounter but none of the efforts would be fruitful.
After continuously knocking on the door with the misfired opportunities, the hosts were able to extend their lead through Lucas Ribeiro on the 37th minute. Khuliso Mudau made a game-changing cut back to Ribeiro who then shot a powerful finish to make it two for Downs.
Despite their attempts to extend their lead even further, Masandawana would only head to the break with two goals ahead of their opponents.
In the second stanza, Shalulile was able to complete his brace on the 52nd minute. Aubrey Modiba – who had made beautiful runs in the second half – made a cross that found Iqraam Rayners who then made a short pass to Shaulile.
Shalulile then chugged the ball in to take his side to three goals.City were looking to find the back of the net in the final stages of the match. They made good attempts to get their chances on target, but Williams displayed good goalkeeping to keep a clean sheet.
Both sides continued to look for goals but, in the end, it was the Brazilians who came out victorious, collecting the desired maximum points.