Pelembe fires Sundowns to victory
A first half goal from Elias Pelembe was enough to hand Mamelodi Sundowns a 1-0 victory over Maritzburg United in an Absa Premiership clash at the Loftus Versfeld Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
The match started at a decent pace but both sides failed to create chances in the opening minutes with play restricted in the midfield where the United trio of Michael Morton, Felix Obada and Kulegani Madondo took on Teko Modise, Surprise Moriri and Hlompo Kekana.
Ian Palmer’s men had the first chance in the 12th minute when they won a free-kick 25-yards out; Kurt Lentjies’ initial attempt was blocked by the wall, with Michael Morton gathering the rebound and blasting the ball over the crossbar.
Two minutes later Richard Henyekane used his pace to beat a couple of defenders and found Katlego Mphela inside the box, who laid the ball back for Teko Modise, but his snap shot was well wide of target.
Modise tried another long range attempt in the following minute and although his shot was dipping it still sailed over Shu-Aib Walters’ crossbar.
Maritzbutg United won another free-kick in the 19th minute in a similar position as the first one and this time Lentjies fired a low shot on target but Wayne Sandilands got down in time to make the save.
The home side broke the deadlock three minutes later via a well-constructed move which saw Teko Modise playing a neat one-two with Punch Masenamela; the latter then cut the ball back for Pelembe who made no mistake from 12-yards out.
The Brazilians should’ve doubled the lead in the 27th minute when Katlego Mphela beat the offside trap to receive a through-pass from Elias Pelembe but the league’s leading scorer pulled his shot across the goal.
A minute later Lentjies had a great chance to level matters when he was put through by a pass from Fadlu Davids, only for the former Sundowns player to fire a wild shot that went wide of goal.
Themba Zwane, who came on late in the first half to replace the injured Surprise Moriri, came close to doubling the lead four minutes into the second half when he was released through the middle of the penalty area by Pelembe but his shot was well-saved by Walters.
Mphela, who was having a quiet game by his standards, managed to a get a header on target in the 51st minute but his attempt lacked pace and Walters was able to make a comfortable save, while Zwane failed to connect with a cross from Modise two minutes later.
Prince Olomu, who switched to a more central attacking role, almost latched onto a through-pass in the 67th minute but arrived a second too late, but he managed to force a one-handed save from Sandilands with a volleyed shot two minutes later.
Substitute Nyasha Mushekwi created the best chance of the second half when he beat Mor Diouf with a brilliant turn in the 79th minute but he was let down by a complete miss-kick with only the goalkeeper to beat.
The match lacked goalmouth action in the closing stages with Sundowns doing enough to protect their slender lead while Maritzburg United lacked the creativity to exert any real pressure.
The victory moved Sundowns to second place, two pints behind the leaders SuperSport United.
Mamelodi Sundowns (1) (Pelembe 22’)
Maritzburg United (0)
Sundowns: Sandilands; Letlabika, Mwanjale, Xulu, Masenamela, Kekana, Moriri (Zwane 37’), Modise (Khenyeza 90+ 1’), Pelembe, Mphela, Henyekane (Mushekwi 68’)
Maritzburg: Walters; Evans, Hendricks, Diouf, Matuka, Obada (M. Davids 32’), Madondo, Morton (Ncubeni 65’), Olomu, Lentjies, F. Davids (Donelly 58’)