Wounded Sundowns looking for redemption in Maritzburg

Mamelodi Sundowns’ overwhelming emotion after a defeat is anger and they perform better when they look to respond.

And this will be the case tonight when they visit Maritzburg United at Harry Gwala Stadium at 7.30pm, where they will be looking for redemption following their 0-3 humiliation from Orlando Pirates at the weekend in the MTN8 semifinal.

In the past, Downs have done well in the subsequent matches after suffering disappointment and defender Grant Kekana has warned that they are desperate to bounce back with a victory tonight.

“Our next match is against Maritzburg in the league, so we will be looking to bounce back obviously, just getting over the loss that we suffered against Pirates and hopefully get a positive result there,” Kekana told the club media department.

“It’s going to be a tough encounter against Maritzburg, they are down in the relegation zone. They will also be looking to get out of it, so it’s going to be another tough encounter and it is always tough going there.

“But it is an encounter that we will be prepared for and we will give it our all efforts and try to get positive results.”

While they are still smarting from that defeat, which saw them concede three goals for the first time this season to bow out from the competition, Kekana said the only way they could forget about that was by getting maximum points against the Team of Choice and maintaining their lead at the top log table.

“The results over the weekend were a bit of a hard one to take. We knew we were the defending champions of the MTN8, so we wanted to progress to the final and defend our title.

“But it wasn’t to be on the day, obviously a bit disappointed but we don’t want to dwell on it too much, we can't do anything about it. So our next focus is on the league.”

Meanwhile, Maritzburg defender Bonginkosi Makume admitted that it was a concern facing a side that would approach the match as wounded tigers.

“Sundowns are going to come to us as wooden tigers and it is very difficult to play against a team from any kind of loss,” he said.

“It doesn’t necessarily mean if they lose three or four it’s different. But any team that comes from a loss is very difficult to play against.

“But we are also looking to win the game. I think it is going to be a very good game to watch.”

Sundowns will be without left-back Aubrey Modiba who got a red card in their defeat against Pirates.