TEAM OF CHOICE BATTLE VALIANTLY TO DRAW WITH SUNDOWNS
16 May 2023
Maritzburg United gave their all to secure a 1-1 DStv draw against Mamelodi Sundowns at the Loftus Versfeld Stadium on Tuesday night.
The Team of Choice created plenty of problems for the Downs defence on the night and also started the game well, looking bright and carving out chances.
That included a seventh minute opening for Brandon Theron, who won the ball strongly in midfield and then fired over the bar.
Amadou Soukouna then had two successive opportunities, doing well to break down the left flank on both occasions.
But his first effort was saved by Denis Onyango and then minutes later, having taken the ball around Onyango, he was denied with a goal-line clearance by Mosa Lebusa.
Bradley Cross then flashed a header wide from a corner before Sundowns opened the scoring against the run of play through Bradley Ralani in the 24th minute.
The Team of Choice regrouped at the interval and came out firing, and were unlucky not to score in the 48th minute when Onyango tipped Cross'
header against the crossbar and then Rafiq de Goede was unable to score from the rebound.
There was another shot for Theron, off target, before Renaldo Leaner did superbly to stop Gaston Sirino from scoring.
The KwaZulu-Natal Capital city side continued to attack but it wouldn't break for them in front of goal as Genino Palace had a shot saved before Rowan Human fired narowlly over from Theron's cutback.
Finally, United were rewarded for their endevours when substitute Jose Meza fired the ball into an empty net after a superb cross from Njoti and a great initial pass from Human on 70 minutes.
The final minutes of the game saw the Team of Choice defending solidlly to ensure the hosts didn't grab a late winner.
United will now await the weekend's final round of PSL fixtures to find out how their season ends.
|
