Durban — Mamelodi Sundowns scored at the death through Marcelo Allende to snatch a 1-0 victory over AmaZulu at the Loftus Versfeld Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
The Brazilians had to work extremely hard to break down a stubborn Usuthu side who looked happy to settle for a point away to the champions.
Sundowns co-coach Rulani Mokwena had indicated in the past the unwillingness of teams to play positively against his side.
The home side were left frustrated in the first half as they struggled to break down the visitors, managing just a single shot on target in the first stanza.
The hosts found the breakthrough in the dying minutes of the match, the same way the star-studded outfit managed to snatch victory against Chippa United two weeks ago.
Mokwena believes the character his side has shown so far, and this particular result, proves that his side should never be written off and any team preparing to defend the entire match against them should think twice.
“It’s a bit difficult when no team in the league wants to play you,” he told SuperSport.
“AmaZulu in all of their games this season have played in a 4-3-3 formation with three strikers on top but today they played with one, just Gaba (Mhango) with (Dumisani) Zuma a little bit closer and a five men defensive line.
“We have the responsibility to try and show that we’re a bit more aggressive and we had the game’s best chance with Mshishi (Themba Zwane) and when you miss that and the game keeps going in the same pattern then it becomes more difficult.
“Also this (result) sends a message to all of our opponents that we’ve got a goal in us, it matter how long it takes for us to score but we’ve got a goal even in the 95th, 96th and 97th minute so congratulations to the players for having a great mentality.“
Following their victory, the Brazilians will head into the international break on top of the DStv Premiership table having accumulated 19 points from a possible 27.