Mokoena's Thunderbolt Secures Victory for Sundowns
Mamelodi Sundowns had to dig deep, then dig even deeper. A frantic night at King Zwelithini Stadium ended with a late hammer blow from Teboho Mokoena, sealing a 2-1 win over Golden Arrows and keeping the champions out in front in the Betway Premiership title race.
For long spells it felt like two points were slipping away. Then Mokoena stepped up.
With two minutes left on the clock and the game stretched, the midfielder collected the ball on the edge of the box and unleashed a fierce strike that flew past the Arrows goalkeeper. Sundowns’ bench erupted, players sprinted to the corner flag, and a match that had been on a knife-edge finally tilted decisively in their favour.
Before that, it had been anything but straightforward.
Sundowns’ new signing Siyanda Ndlovu had given the Brazilians the perfect platform in the first half, marking his early days at the club with a composed finish to put them 1-0 up. It looked like the leaders might canter away.
Arrows refused to fold. They came back with intent after the break, pushed Sundowns deeper, and were rewarded when Junior Dion levelled in the second half, setting up a furious finale played at full throttle.
The Tshwane giants eventually found a way, and the result carries weight in the table as well as in the dressing room. Sundowns move to 16 points, three clear of Orlando Pirates at the top after six matches, though the Buccaneers still hold a game in hand.
Miguel Cardoso, though, was looking beyond the numbers.
“I’m obviously happy with the character we’ve shown because sometimes if you concede a goal like that, you don’t have the mental capacity to be resilient and to fight for something,” the Sundowns coach said after the match.
“So it means that the message, the character and attitude we’re trying to build is strong. No one can destroy the attitude and that is something that we have to state all the time.
“It will not obviously happen every time that we score in the last minute but if we believe, it will happen more frequently and the team showed belief.”
Belief was one thing. Game management was another.
Cardoso: ‘We needed more maturity’
Arrows kept swinging until the final whistle, and Cardoso’s side often met fire with fire instead of closing the game down once Mokoena had struck.
“What I didn’t like is that after we scored the two one we still went to go attack like it was the last minute of the match and we were losing by two goals,” he admitted.
“But we needed to have the maturity at that point to manage the game and keep the ball in the right places to finish the game in the few minutes that were remaining. There’s obviously some learning to do from this match so that we can become stronger in the future.”
The schedule offers little time to dwell.
Sundowns are back on the pitch on Wednesday at Loftus Versfeld, where they face Siwelele FC and chase a fifth straight win in all competitions. Top of the table, momentum intact, but with their coach demanding sharper minds to match their fighting spirit, the next test will show just how quickly those lessons have sunk in.
