Bloemfontein Celtic 0-1 Mamelodi Sundowns: Sirino helps Masandawana to a treble
A solitary goal by midfielder Gaston Sirino ensured Mamelodi Sundowns bagged a 1-0 win over Bloemfontein Celtic in the Nedbank Cup final at Orlando Stadium on Saturday night.
Fresh from lifting the Premier Soccer League (PSL) trophy, the Tshwane giants were looking to bag their third trophy in the 2019/20 season and they achieved that feat.
Coach Pitso Mosimane’s troops have already won the Telkom Knockout, the league, and were gunning to bag the Ke Yona title and complete their treble.
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On the part of coach John Maduka’s men, Phunya Sele Sele were hoping to secure their first Nedbank Cup trophy and were confident heading to the clash after finishing he bubble without a loss.
Coming to the match, the Brazilians started on a bright side in their quest to open their scoring account but they failed to break Phunya Sele Sele’s defence.
However, they could not find the target as Sphelele Mkhulise failed to direct his shot from range to the goals as goalkeeper Sipho Chaine watched the shot went wide in the 41st minute.
On the opposite half, Victor Letsoalo was denied by Sundowns keeper Denis Onyango when the striker saw his glancing header punched away by the Ugandan international for a corner kick in injury time.
There were no goals at the interval.
However, the Chloorkop-based club continued with their attacking in the final third and cause more trouble to the Celtic defence.
Gaston Sirino was the man to go for the visitors and pulled the trigger from range and his shot came within inches of finding the net.
It was Sirino who broke the deadlock in the 61st minute when his curler beat Chaine on his right corner, making it 1-0 for the reigning PSL champions.
The two sides battled for dominance in the heart of the park as Maduka’s troops looked to make it 1-1, but it was Ricardo Nascimento and Motjeka Madisha who denied the Free State outfit.
With three minutes to go to full-time, Siwelele came close to equalizing from a set-piece, but Onyango produced a brilliant save from point-blank range to ensure they keep the lead.
In the dying stages of the contest, the 10-time PSL champions managed the game and eased past Celtic to seal their third PSL trophy in the season.
