Usuthu, Downs dish out six goal thriller

record at home, although they are still unbeaten at Umlazi.

Both coaches, AmaZulu’s Cavin Johnson and Pitso Mosimane of Sundowns handed debuts to their new recruits.

Bongi Ntuli led the attack for Usuthu on his second loan spell with the club while Phakamani Mahlambi and Riyaad Pieterse made their maiden starts for the Brazilians.

Usuthu opened the scoring when Butholezwe Ncube dispossessed Andile Jali on the edge of the box and unleashed a grass cutter that left Pieterse with no chance.

Ntuli was causing all sort of havoc for Sundowns. He operated as the focal point for Usuthu upfront and bulldozed Wayne Arendse and Ricardo Nascimento with his physical strength.

Ncube and Nhlanhla Vilakazi controlled the midfield as they didn’t allow Hlompo Kekana and Jali the room to orchestrate things for their team as they usually do.

Mahlambi levelled matters 28 minutes into the game. The debutant capitalised on a blunder by Nyongo who allowed the former Al Ahly man to get in front of him and test Moeneeb Josephs.

Josephs pulled off a good save but the ball rebounded to Mahlambi who tapped home for his first goal for Sundowns.

The second half got off to a flying start with two goals being scored within three minutes. There was first a moment of brilliance from Tony Silva who nut-megged a defender before doing the same to Josephs to score on the near post.

It didn’t take that long for Usuthu to restore parity as Ncobeni pounced to equalise.

Ntuli then bit the hand that feeds him as he scored against his parent team after 72 minutes. Lack of communication between Arendse and Nascimento allowed Siyethemba Sithebe to flick the ball into the path of the player who is on loan from Downs and he made no mistake.

There was more drama at the end of the match as Mosimane had a go at a security guard. One of the Sundowns supporters stormed onto the pitch and the security grabbed him and wanted to take him out in a brutal manner.

Mosimane fumed as he wanted the fan to be taken out nicely. The police had to intervene. Sundowns face Golden Arrows on Wednesday.