Mamelodi Sundowns have secured the final spot in the MTN8 semifinals. This comes after a 4-0 victory against after few minutes .Richards Bay FC in their season opener on Sunday night at the Lucas Moripe Stadium.
It only took Masandawana ten minutes to break the deadlock through Iqraam Rayners. The goal materialised from Arthur Sales’ corner kick, whose ball bounced before connecting with Rayner’s head to hit the net.
While the hosts dominated most of the opening half, the Natal Rich Boyz also had a few opportunities to test the Downs defence. There was a mistake made by Marcelo Allende, which was countered by Richards Bay. While trying to block the ball from moving forward for the visitors, Teboho Mokoena committed a foul, earning Richards Bay a free-kick. The set-piece amounted to nothing as the wall of yellow shirts blocked the ball.
Rayners almost registered a brace a few minutes after the clock hit the half-hour mark. He’d made a good run to the opposition’s half after being served with a long ball that came from the other half. His run to the net was met by the goalkeeper to deny him.
Inside the stoppage time of the first stanza, the second goal came for the Pretoria-based side, but it is credited to their opponent. Sales set up Mokoena, whose intention was to hand the ball to Rayners, who was in a better position to score. With pressure piling up for them, the Richards Bay defence tried to clear the ball away but ended up scoring an own goal. With not much action in the final three minutes of added time, Bafana Ba Style headed to the interval two goals up.
The KwaZulu-Natal side opened the second half with a dangerous chance on the left flank. Luckily, with no blue shirts in front of the goal to slot it in, the shot just passed the face of the goal. On both the attack and defence, they looked more clinical than they were in the opening half.