Chippa, Sundowns in goalless stalemate

Mamelodi Sundowns were held to a goalless draw by Chippa United in their Absa Premiership match at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

The home side started the better of the two teams and had the first shot on goal in the 11th minute when Abel Mabaso’s shot from the edge of the box strike the post before bouncing away from danger.

Sundowns’ first reals scoring chance came ten minutes later when Percy Tau curled a 24-yard free-kick inches over the target.

The next decent scoring opportunity only came in the 29th minute when Tiyani Mabunda drove forward from the midfield before unleashing a 30-yard thunderbolt which deflected just wide of the Maritzburg goal.

The half ended 0-0.

The Brazilians continued to dictate matters at the start of the second half with Mabunda shooting narrowly wide of the target five minutes into the stanza.

Chippa, though, were not to be outdone and came close to scoring in the 54th minute when Paseka Mako broke through on goal, but he was superbly denied in a one-on-one with Denis Onyango.

In the 68th minute Chippa suffered a bit of a set-back when goalkeeper Daniel Akpeyi had to leave the field injured and was replace by Brighton Mhlongo.

There was a large delay to the match as Akpeyi was stretchered off and that seemed to kill the mood of the game.

Both teams struggled to create any significant chances on goal after that and the match ended all-square as a result.

TEAMS

Chippa: Akpeyi (Mhlongo 68’), Macheke, Okwuosa, Konqobe, Maphanga, Mvelase, Mabaso, Mdlinzo, Mako, Lentjies (Julies 61’), Sekola (Mashego 55’).

Sundowns: Onyango, Langerman, Soumahoro, Ngcongca, Madisha, Billiat (Zakri 85’), Kekana (Zwane 74’), Mabunda, Vilakazi (Laffor 74’), Manyisa, Tau.