Chippa United hold Mamelodi Sundowns
Wayne Arendse scored but then gave away a penalty as Mamelodi Sundowns’ winning form in the Premier Soccer League was halted in a tough 1-1 draw with Chippa United at the Sisa Dukashe Stadium on Tuesday night.
Conditions were tough on a rainy day in the Eastern Cape as Sundowns made eight changes from last weekend’s 6-0 thrashing of Orlando Pirates with Pitso Mosiane resting his best players for Saturday’s Super Cup against TP Mazembe Englebert of the Democratic Republic of Congo in Pretoria.
“Under these circumstances we couldn’t play football so we had to settle for percentage football and be happy with the point,” said Mosimane afterwards.
The one point kept Sundowns in fifth pace but lifted Chippa into the top eight.
Arendse was the central figure in the first half as the heavy pitch, muddy in parts and holding up the flow of the ball, inhibited any hopes of a decent footballing spectacle. It had been raining for days in the area and the slow dribble down of moisture all day had left the field almost unplayable in parts.
Arendse, who missed the drubbing of Pirates through suspension, was left completely unmarked to have time to steer home the opening goal in the 19th minute.
It came from a free kick that went right over the top of a sloppy Chippa defence that completely failed to spot Arendse sneaking in unmarked at the back post.
But the Sundowns central defender was then rather harshly adjudged to have given away a penalty in the 37th minute when he looked to make contact with the ball first but referee Victor Gomes, never one to miss out on an opportunity to point at the penalty spot, said he had fouled Paseka Mako.
Rhulani Manzini hammered home the equaliser for his fourth goal in just three games this season after spending most of the campaign on the sidelines because of injury.
Teko Modise, given a rare run in the starting line-up, had a great chance to score his first league goal in more than a year when a strong overlapping run from left back Fares Hachi set him up in the 49th minute. But the 34-year-old fluffed the opportunity as he missed the target.
Yannick Zakri, playing a first game since September, also had a half chance for Sundowns on the hour mark but put it into the side netting.
When Thapelo Morena came on, he injected some life into Sundowns and was part of a slick build-up that saw Leonardo Castro with just the keeper to beat in the 78th minute. The Colombian, without a goal this season, hit a tame effort straight at Daniel Akpeyi.
Chippa might have stolen their first-ever win over Sundowns in the last minute when substitute Linda Shiba had his left footed shot saved by Wayne Sandilands.