Mamelodi Sundowns underlined their title credentials with a convincing 4-1 win against challengers Orlando Pirates on Saturday afternoon.
The fans filled the Loftus Versfeld Stadium to the brim to cheer their respective teams to victory.
Prior to the fixture, the defending champions had lost just one out of the 14 games they had played in South African top-flight football. Their rivals had lost two games and registered 11 wins to underline their hunger for the PSL title.
Kekana, Ribeiro silence the Buccaneers
The Brazilians were determined to get a positive outcome from the first whistle. It seemed Pirates, either decided to employ a defensive approach and rely on counter-attacks, or Masandawana were just too good on the ball.
Pirates gave away a free-kick in a good area after 12 minutes, giving Marcelo Allende a chance to deliver a good ball into the danger zone. The unmarked Grant Kekana guided the ball home for a deserved 1-0 lead.
In the 18th minute, it could have been easily 2-0 when debutant Lucas Suarez headed in a good ball, but Sipho Chaine dealt with the threat.
However, 10 minutes later, they had no response to Lucas Ribeiro's lung-bursting run from midfield after a good ball from Teboho Mokoena. He went all the way before coolly slotting home to double the advantage for the home team.
Deon Hotto had a chance to reduce the deficit in the stroke of halftime but he failed to turn in a good ball from Mofokeng.
Hotto responds but red-hot Ribeiro inspired Downs
Pirates started the second half better in their bid to get the goal that will ignite their fight-back.
Deon Hotto delivered just that in the 57th minute when Suarez' deflected the ball past Ronwen williams.
Three minutes later, Iqraam Rayners set-up Ribeiro for his second of the match, which took his tally this season in the PSL to ninth.
It got worse for Pirates in the 78th minute; Ribeiro spotted the advancing Mokoena who was Mokoena, and passed the ball to him just outside the 18-yard area. The Bafana Bafana international unleashed a rocket past Chaine to make it 4-1 and seal the win in style.
Sundowns win opened a nine-point gap on top of the table after 15 games. Pirates remain second with 33 points after playing 14 matches. It is interesting to see how the Soweto giants will respond after the heavy loss.
