Mamelodi Sundowns Beat TP Mazembe To Keep Unbeaten Run Intact

A solitary strike from Lebohang Maboe handed Mamelodi Sundowns a 1-0 win over TP Mazembe at Loftus Versfeld Stadium on Tuesday evening.

The two teams were evenly matched in the opening exchanges, but the game began to open up after the 15th-minute mark with Masandawana launching most of their attacks down the right-hand side.

Rivaldo Cotzee split two crosses from Sirino and Themba Zwane, but the Ravens goalkeeper was able to react quickly and gathered the ball on both occasions before Shalulile could pounce and score.

Tresor Mputu came close to giving Mazembe the lead in the 15th minute but his glancing header was tipped away by Deniss Onyango.

It was Sundowns who broke the deadlock in the 28th minute through Maboe, the midfielder was given time and space, before providing a crisp finish beyond goalkeeper Ibrahim Mounkoro, following great set-up play by Zwane.

The home side could have gone into the halftime break two goals up but Peter Shalulile managed to pull his effort wide of the mark.

Masandawana searched for more goals after the restart and Mounkoro was the busier of the two goalkeepers with his side under pressure.

The Malian shot-stopper produced a low, diving save to deny Sirino, before gathering Lakay’s effort which was heading for the top corner.

The Ravens resorted to long-range shots in the closing stages of the match and one of them was easily gathered by Onyango from Christian Koffi.

Sundowns missed a chance to double their lead after Andile Jali missed a chance from outside the area after collecting a nice delivery from Morena.

TP Mazembe threw numbers in search of an equalizer in the final 10 minutes, but they were unable to carve out a clear-cut chance.

Nevertheless, the score remained 1-0 to Masandawana as the referee brought the second half to a close.

With two rounds of African Champions League Group B matches left, Sundowns have a nine-point buffer between them and second placed Al Hilal who earlier on drew 0-0 with CR Belouizdad.