Mamelodi Sundowns snatched a point on Saturday at the Buffalo City Stadium following a 1-1 draw against Chippa United. It was Antonio van Wyk who levelled matters for Downs in the final minute of the match.
While Sundowns dominated possession the early minutes of the match, the hosts were not making thing easy for them, as they too, created chances through mostly their counterattack efforts.
On the 10th minute, Tashreeq Matthews could have broke the deadlock through a headed effort which went over the bar. He had received the ball from a cross which was set up by Siyanda Ndlovu on the right.
On the 22nd minute, Ndlovu was denied a scoring opportunity inside the box through a slide tackle. Five minutes later, the Chilli Boys rattled the Downs defence with a great passage of play. They couldn’t get it right after a high ball soared across the field.
A slip of the boot for Ronwen Williams on the edge of the box almost cost him but he made a quick recovery to get to the ball before the hosts did. In the closing minutes of the first half, Teboho Mokoena’s presence in the box has denied two scoring chances coming from the hosts. Despite an action-packed first stanza, the two sides went to the interval with no goals.
The hosts created the first big chance of the second half on the 50th minute when Thapelo Morena couldn’t stop the ball inside the box. Fortunately, Grant Kekana was able to block the ball to deny the hosts an opener.
Just inside the hour mark, substitute, Cassius Mailula was left unmarked on the edge of the box but slipped before firing his shot which was met by the keeper’s hands. An interception from the Chippa defence saw the hosts driving the ball into the other half of the field. The effort to score from the left flank, however, crossed the face of goal.
Kekana, who was close to the keeper, had an opportunity to break the deadlock for Downs from a long ball that came from Aubrey Modiba. The effort to slot it in, however, blocked by the goalkeeper.
On the 78th minute, the first goal was witnessed at the Buffalo City Stadium and it came from the Chilli Boys. Unable to block the ball, the Downs defence was taken advantage of as the hosts found the farpost to open the scoring.
On the 84th minute, Masandawana almost levelled matters with a Mailula effort which was close to crossing the goal line but was snatched by the keeper.
With only a minute to full-time, Bafana Ba Style found the back of the net through substitute, Antonio van Wyk. A shot from Morena landed inside the box and was lightly smacked by the keeper but van Wyk found the rebound and slotted it in to level matters. While they didn’t get all points on offer, Masandawana walk away with a point and continue with their unbeaten streak.
