News24.com | Maritzburg hold Sundowns in coronation game, still face anxious relegation wait

At Loftus Versfeld

• Maritzburg United face an anxious wait for Saturday's DStv Premiership fixtures to see if they’ll retain their top flight status after their 1-1 draw against Mamelodi Sundowns on Tuesday evening.
• They came back from a goal down to level the game, but they needed to win to stay up.
• Maritzburg United moved to 14th, but will need Chippa United and Marumo Gallants to lose their last league games on Saturday.

Maritzburg United face an anxious wait for Saturday's DStv Premiership fixtures to see if they’ll retain their status after their 1-1 draw against Mamelodi Sundowns on Tuesday evening.

The Team of Choice, who were bottom of the log at the start of the fixture with 29 points, got a crucial point that moved them to 30 points and 14th place.

However, their danger lies in the fact that of the bottom three teams, they not only have the most inferior goal difference (-16), but they've also scored the least goals (24) and conceded the most (40).

Their draw meant Chippa United, who host Golden Arrows in Gqeberha on Saturday, are currently bottom with 29 points, tied with Marumo Gallants, who are away to Swallows.

Chippa (-15) and Gallants (-5) have better goal differences, meaning that Maritzburg need big win favours to stay up.

They did well to see Jose Ali Meza cancel out Bradley Ralani's goal, but they needed more than that, especially with the chances they fluffed.

They had plenty of opportunities to put the game away and should they get relegated, they'll look back at this game as the one that got away.

With Saturday's CAF Champions League semi-final second league against Morocco's Wydad Casablanca in mind, Sundowns fielded a weakened side.

That said, they still sealed their sixth consecutive title win in the backdrop of Maritzburg's unhappiness of playing the game on Tuesday, alongside Alex Shakoane's passing last week and his burial on Tuesday morning.

Shakoane was honoured with a moment's silence before kick-off and a memento at half-time.

Maritzburg came out of the starting blocks like a team that knew this was their do-or-die moment. They asked the two pressing questions early on through Amadou Soukouna.

The French-born forward initially forced an excellent save from Denis Onyango in the 16th minute, and five minutes later, he rounded Onyango, only for Mosa Lebusa to block his goal-bound shot.

Sundowns generally punish such profligacy, and when they dispossessed the ball in the midfield in the 24th minute, they moved forward swiftly, with a wonderful turn and pass from Neo Maema finding Ralani in space.

Ralani's finish was classy and with the lead, Maritzburg were put under immense pressure that they weren't able to shake off.

They weren't able to wrest control of the game from Sundowns, but in the second half, they pressed from the onset.

They should have equalised in the 48th minute when Mogamad de Goede had two consecutive chances saved by Onyango and blocked by Lebusa.

The visitors were nearly punished when Gaston Sirino breakaway run and shot was saved by Renaldo Leaner in the 57th minute.

Had Sundowns scored, that would have been the end of Maritzburg's premiership stay, but they fought on.

Rowan Human, who had an excellent game, had a golden opportunity to equalise in the 62nd minute, but his chance went wide.

They did score nine minutes later through Meza after Human sliced through the Sundowns midfield with a wonderful run before passing to Tumelo Njoti.

Njoti's cross found Human ranging on the right, with the midfielder slotting the ball past a diving Onyango.

It was game on for Maritzburg, who tactically chased the game astutely and forced Sundowns to play deep in their half.

Sundowns shored up enough at the back to ensure they didn't suffer the embarrassment of losing their last game of the season.