by MELOKUHLE MAHLANGU
MBOMBELA, (CAJ News) – A SOLITARY strike by prolific TS Galaxy forward Kamogelo Sebelebele was all the Mpumalanga based team needed to hand Mamelodi Sundowns their first defeat of the season in a tightly contested Betway Premiership match at Mbombela Stadium.
Tuesday night’s victory catapulted the Rockets to the 4th position of the league table with 25 points from the 17 matches they played to date.
TS Galaxy refused to play second fiddle to the usually bullish Sundowns as the Rockets took away the game from the highly revered Brazilians, who usually dominate with quick set pieces.
TS Galaxy matched Mamelodi Sundowns players man-for-man while at some point the Rockets dominated in every department with overlapping right back Marks Munyai causing all sorts of problems with his overlapping skills.
Munyai was not the only effective TS Galaxy player as man-of-the-match Sebelebele tormented the Sundowns defenders left, right and centre with his sublime skills coupled with sudden outburst of speed.
Other enterprising TS Galaxy players included double centre forward Victor Letsoalo and Dzenan Zajmovic, who troubled the Sundowns’ defence of Kegan Johannes, Lucas Suárez, Grant Kekana and Aubrey Modiba.
However, the Brazilian deadly striker Lucas Ribeiro proved to be the only lively forward while the usually dependable Namibian forward Peter Shalulile, free scoring Iqraam Rayners, skillful midfielders Marcelo Allende and Teboho Mokoena were all marked out of the game by the TS Galaxy defence.
The defeat to TS Galaxy will be seen whether it was a fluke or not when Sundowns lock horns with struggling Marumo Gallants next week on Wednesday.
– CAJ News