Mamelodi Sundowns will not use goalkeeper Denis Onyango as a scapegoat for throwing away a two-goal lead against SuperSport United in their Tshwane derby encounter at Loftus Versfeld on Wednesday.

The usually reliable Onyango committed two high-profile blunders to allow SuperSport to claim a 2-2 draw in an entertaining DStv Premiership encounter in the capital.

The Brazilians were on their way to clinching the three points with goals from Neo Maema and Peter Shalulile, but Gamphani Lungu capitalised on Onyango’s blunder to pull one goal back for Matsatsantsa before Teboho Mokoena’s free-kick went through the hands of the shell-shocked goalkeeper.

Sundowns next host Sekhukhune United at the Tuks Stadium at 3.30pm tomorrow.

“Football is a game of mistakes and, unfortunately, a goalkeeper’s mistake is more costly than that of the infield players. The reality is that Denis is a top goalkeeper. One swallow does not make a summer and we cannot blame him for a bad game," said Sundowns co-coach Rulani Mokwena.

"He has our full support and we will show him his mistake and analyse the game with him. We have to refrain from using him as a scapegoat. How many times has he helped us keep many clean sheets and set the records? Let us appreciate and love our players in good and bad moments.” 

The Brazilians conceded for the first time in 14 matches in the derby. SuperSport were also the last team to score against them in May.

Mokwena hopes they will bounce back to winning ways against Sekhukhune.

“We hope to play better. The performance in the past two games was not good. We dropped a couple of points because we have not played well. We have to go back to a lot of things that helped us win. We gave SuperSport too many chances. We were lucky not to lose the derby,” he said.