Hosts Mamelodi Sundowns beat Bloemfontein Celtic in their MTN8 quarterfinal played at the Lucas Moripe Stadium.
|||Hosts Mamelodi Sundowns beat Bloemfontein Celtic 1-0 through a 79th minute header from substitute Mabhuti Khenyeza at Lucas Moripe Stadium in Atteridgeville in their MTN8 quarterfinal on Saturday afternoon.
The home side worked their way into the game after a slow start, but aided with some tactical substitutions in the second half, they were able to play with more urgency and were ultimately rewarded late in the game.
The winner from Khenyeza came from a corner as his well-angled, headed shot left the Celtic keeper no chance.
In the early exchanges, new signing for Downs from Kaizer Chiefs, Punch Masenamela, pulled up gingerly running onto a ball indicating some sort of leg injury but he surprisingly made a quick recovery.
Both teams looked rusty in the first half hour with no real creativity in attack.
The pitch was in bad condition, sporting the occasional green patch of grass while it was mostly brown in colour.
New Sundowns coach Johan Neeskens seemed to have little effect on his team's attacking prowess in the first half with the home side not doing much with most of the possession.
Bafana Bafana striker Katlego Mphela, who started off the bench for Sundowns, was introduced in the second half and had an immediate impact.
He reeled off a powerful shot from the edge of the area in the 62nd minute that had Celtic keeper Patrick Tignyemb diving full stretch to keep his side level.
As the game headed into the last quarter, Sundowns started to land more passes and looked threatening on attack.
Teko Modise, for the homeside, controlled the ball well while having a go at goal himself on the odd occasion.
The momentum swayed in favour of Sundowns with little time left in the match, and it was to be Khenyeza who had the final say in a match where goal opportunities were few.
Speaking after the match Neeskens praised the visitors' defence.
“The pace was lacking (in the first half) because we were playing against a well-organised defence and they didn't give us very much space,” said Neeskens.
“It was not easy to play the one-two touch game because of their tight defence.
“I said to them (at halftime), have patience. On the sides with (Franklin) Cale and (Elias) Pelembe in one-on-one situations, they have to do more and sometimes they crossed each other when they should not have.
“In the end I think we deserved the win because we had more possession and we tried to win this game more than they did.” – Sapa
Source: http://www.iol.co.za/downs-scrape-past-celtic-1.1113210
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