Sundowns Edge Durban City To Retain Top Spot

Mamelodi Sundowns maintained their position at the summit of the Betway Premiership with a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Durban City at Chatsworth Stadium on Tuesday night.

Sundowns went into the match knowing that a win would be enough to keep them in first place, despite Orlando Pirates hammering Golden Arrows 5-0 at Orlando Stadium.

With the victory, Sundowns became the first team to defeat Durban City at Chatsworth Stadium.

They also completed a league double over City, having won 3-1 in the reverse fixture at Lucas Moripe Stadium in September last year.

At the time, City were coached by Gavin Hunt, who was sacked in December.

Miguel Cardoso’s side now have 56 points after 23 matches, while Pirates remain second on 54 points, having played the same number of games.

Sundowns arrived in Durban with fond memories of the venue, having clinched the 2021/22 league title there with a win over Royal AM on the final day of the season.

However, they faced a confident Durban City side that had just reached the Nedbank Cup final after beating Casric Stars on Saturday.

It was always going to be a rearguard effort from City to stop a Sundowns team in fine form, having won nine league matches on the bounce.

Sundowns showed their intent early, taking the lead in the 11th minute when Katlego Ntsabeleng scored his first goal for the club, finishing off a move involving Marcelo Allende to beat Darren Keet.

They could have doubled their lead in the 18th minute when Aubrey Modiba delivered a perfect cross, but Arthur Sales struck the post instead of converting from close range.

City almost equalised before the break, but Trevor Mokwena dragged his effort wide.

In a bizarre moment before the start of the second half, SuperSport TV crew informed Sportswire that Sundowns senior coach Steve Komphela had demanded that a cameraman positioned between the two dugouts be removed.

Komphela had earlier been cautioned in the first half for arguing with the fourth official, and the restart of the second half was delayed by five minutes following the incident.

Despite the disruption, Sundowns controlled proceedings in the second half and looked comfortable protecting their narrow lead.

In the end, the solitary goal proved enough to secure all three points.