Downs cut Chiefs’ lead

If they had the time, Mamelodi Sundowns supporters would have composed a song for Mauricio Affonso as he came off the bench to help the Brazilians steal all three points at the death against Highlands Park – breaking the hearts of Owen da Gama’s men as they thought they had chiselled out a draw against the defending Absa Premiership champions.

Affonso has now scored on his Caf Champions League debut, on his domestic cup debut and on his league debut for Masandawana.

Before Affonso’s saving grace that saw Sundowns narrow down Kaizer Chiefs lead at the summit to two points, the match last night was characterised by a host of missed chances by both sides.

The first came through Highlands captain Mothobi Mvala in the fifth minute when he navigated through what was a solid central defensive partnership of Motjeka Madisha and Mosa Lebusa and unleashed a shot that left Downs goalkeeper Kennedy Mweene for dead. However, he could only find the upright.

While that was the Lions of the North’s notable chance in the first half, the hosts had quite a few more. The most glaring miss of the lot came from Hlompho Kekana who benefited from the skill of Themba Zwane and Gaston Sirino as they stringed a few passes to navigate through Da Gama’s midfield and pierced through the backline with ease before laying the all off their captain. Kekana somehow managed to balloon his effort over the bar – much to the relief of former Sundowns goal-minder Thela Ngobeni.

The second half was no different but this time around Highlands improved their moves forward as they gave Mweene much more work to do.

Thapelo Morena, who was deployed as right winger as Anele Ngcongca slotted at right-back, often found himself at the end of most of Downs’ attacks.

In the 70th minute he came close breaking the deadlock. Sirino delivered a well-weight cross and the Bafana Bafana international rose to head the ball only for his attempt to meet the crossbar.

At some point, Ngobeni was forced to race off his line and he managed to defuse the danger but not entirely because the ball landed on the path of Kekana.

With Ngobeni still off the line, it seemed as though a goal was in the reckoning. But the ball seemingly fell to the wrong foot as Kekana is not the most skillful player and he was dispossessed in the end.