The Brazilians share the spoils against Stellenbosch

Mamelodi Sundowns played to a 1-1 draw with Stellenbosch in an exciting DStv Premiership game at the Danie Craven Stadium on Saturday.

The Brazilians collected a point on the road against a confident Stellenbosch side when Cassius Mailula gave Bafana Ba Style the lead in the second half, poking the ball past Sage Stephens into the net. Stellies equalized through Iqraam Rayners when the home team was awarded a penalty with five minutes left to play.

The game in the Mother City got off to a high speed and intensity as the two teams battled each other in the rain. Reyaad Pieterse was forced into a save early, with Junior Mendieta’s strike on target. Masandawana shortly followed with their first effort at goal, Neo Maema aimed his pass to Peter Shalulile in the Stellies 18 area and the Stellies defender headed it towards Thapelo Morena who blasted his shot wide off.

Stellies got back into the action again with Devon Titus getting around Terrence Mashego and cutting the ball back to Mendieta and the striker took a shot towards Pieterse who made a great save for The Brazilians.

The Stellenbosch continued to press very high and put Downs defense under pressure, eventually Mashego committed a foul on David Van Rooyen and a free kick given to the opposition with no results coming for the home team.

Just before the half hour mark, Haashim Domingo saw his acrobatic kick saved by Stephens, after good work from Ntando Nkosi who chipped the ball over into the box. Stellies responded with a double chance to take the lead, but they were unable to connect their final shots inside Pieterse’s box.

With the half time break coming closer and closer, Shalulile was next to threaten for Downs, firing in from Domingo’s pass the striker tried to take a shot but his attempt to the left went past the face of goal. Neo Maema closed off the first half with a long range shot outside the box, but his strike was not powerful enough to go past Stephens and both teams went into the tunnel goalless.

The second half got off to an end to end battle, both teams persisted to go at each other in search for an opener, Jayden Adams showed up with a promising volley for Stellies and forced Pieterse to get low and make a save.

Masandawana made changes to their line up after an hour and five minutes, Nkosi, Mashego and Morena were called off as Sipho Mbule, Mailula and Aubrey Modiba came on. Mosa Lebusa was on form to make a crucial clearance in the box after Stellies won the ball from Downs half and regained possession for his side.

At seventy six minutes Masandawana took the lead in the game through Mailula. The 21-year old scored his 8th league goal after scrambling for the ball in the box and poking it past the goalkeeper. Stellies didn’t look to back down from the challenge and kept on applying pressure on Sundowns defense, Pieterse made an incredible save from Antonio Van Wyk’s strike and denied the home team a goalscoring opportunity.

Unfortunately for The Brazilians their lead was threatened in the dying minutes of the encounter when Mbule brought down Qobolwakhe Sibande in an attempt to stop the attack and the referee pointed to the penalty spot. Rayners made no mistakes and converted from the chance.