Downs Hold Al Hilal, Hand Al Ahly A Lifeline

Mamelodi Sundowns held Al Hilal to a 1-1 draw in Sudan on Saturday, handing CAF Champions League record-champions Al Ahly a lifeline in Group B.

The DStv Premiership champions had already qualified for the knockout stages last weekend after beating Al Ahly 5-2 at home, but showed their intentions for the competitions this season, by fielding a strong line-up.

Teboho Mokoena had the first shot for the Masandawana, but, unlike last week when he hit the top corner, this time it missed the target after six minutes.

Makabi Lilepo had a strong shot saved by Ronwen Williams in the 11th minute and Williams again had to save Downs two minutes later to deny Lilepo after a swift counter.

Sundowns dominated proceedings in the first 25 minutes, having 80% of possession but the better chances fell to the home side.

The game somewhat slowed down in the second part of the first half, with many small fouls disruption any real flow of the match.

Sundowns had their best chance of the game straight after half-time when Neo Maema set up Marcelo Allende but his shot was saved by Ali Abdullah Abou, while Mailula almost converted the rebound.

In the 67th minute, Khuliso Mudau opened the scoring for Sundowns, converting a rebound after the Al Hilal keeper had dropped a free-kick by Maema.

However, their lead didn’t last long as Hilal equalised following a mistake by Ronwen Williams in the five-yard box, with the goalkeeper losing the ball to hand the hosts an easy equaliser via Mohamed Abdelrahman.

Al Hilal were handed a late penalty but Williams made up for his earlier mistake and saved the spot-kick by Athar Eltahir.

The draw sees Downs move to 11 points from five games, followed by Hilal with 10. Meanwhile, Al Ahly sit on seven and now need to beat Hilal on match day six themselves to have a chance of progressing.