Mamelodi Sundowns advanced into the semi-finals of the MTN8 with a 2-0 win over ten-man Moroka Swallows at the Lucas Masterpieces Moripe Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
The game started with Themba Zwane receiving a yellow card for wasting time within the opening minute, setting the tone for a ten-minute frenetic opening.
Challenges were flying in and former Sundowns star Andile Jali was guilty of an overzealous challenge on Teboho Mokoena which saw him sent off in the seventh minute.
It looked inevitable that Sundowns would steam-roll the Dube Birds over with a numerical advantage but it wasn’t the case as they struggled to break down Steve Komphela’s side.
Despite dominating possession, as was the case in their opening two league games, they lacked their usual cutting edge in the final third to carve open clear-out chances.
And it was only at the start of the second half that they opened the scoring their talismanic captain Themba Zwane, with a fierce effort past Daniel Akpeyi.
Swallows weren’t disgraced by any stretch of the imagination but they hardly tested Ronwen Williams in the second half as Masandawana secured the 1-0 win to advance to the last-four of the competition.
