Mandla Masango grabbed a quick double to spur a second half turn around as SuperSport United came from behind at half-time to easily beat Maritzburg United 4-1 in the Premier Soccer League at Atteridgeville on Wednesday.

The victory pushed SuperSport to third place in the standings, two points behind new leaders BidvestvWits.

SuperSport scored their four goals in the space of 12 minutes to extend their unbeaten run in the league to 16 games after a thunderbolt from Kurt Lentjies gave Maritzburg an unexpected lead.

But bad mistakes in turning over possession allowed Stuart Baxter’s side to come back with Masango grabbing his first goal since joining on loan from Denmark.

Masango applied the final touch to a swift passing move after a poor mistake at the back by the visitors for the equaliser in the 52nd minute.

It then took 17 seconds from the Maritzburg kick off as they quickly gave away possession for Masango to get his second as Reneilwe Letsholonyane led a swift charge upfield with Masango applying the final touch.

Six minutes later Kingston Nkhatha made it 3-1 with a bicycle kick after a long throw in from Michael Boxall and a knock down header from Thabo Mnyamane and it was another three minutes after that before the lead had bene stretched to 4-1 with Jeremy Brockie getting his first of the year with as tap-in after Nkhatha’s dummy from Mnyamane’s cross.

Maritzburg’s first quality attack ended with the ball in the net as Onismor Bhasera botched his clearance and instead served up the perfect pass for the visiting team’s captain Lentjies to bang home from outside of the box in the 14th minute.

It was a cracking shot that gave Reyaad Pieterse no chance and emphasised how much Maritzburg had missed Lentjies in their previous game, a home defeat by Kaizer Chiefs.

Two minutes later SuperSport should have been level when Brockie hit the upright and then the follow up from Mnyamane went into the side netting.

Bhasera, looking to atone for his earlier error, played in the perfect pass from the left for Nkhatha in the 34th minute but the Zimbabwean missed from close range as another chance went begging.

SuperSport always looked dangerous at set pieces and had the bulk of possession but they lost patience at times and allowed Maritzburg to always have a chance on the counter attack. 

But the quality of their finishing ensured they had another three point haul as they continue to challenge for the title.

  - TMG Digital