DStv Prem Midweek Review – Winners And Losers By OptaJabu

Four catchup games were played in the during the week, bringing all teams level on 14 games. Even with a pruned fixture list, there were enough talking points for us to pull out a bonus midweek DStv Prem Winners & Losers piece. Sundowns march on towards the title, while Gavin Hunt continues to prove that he is still the man for the big league. Other old foxes Ernst Middendorp & Dan Malesela are on the Loser’s side.

Winners

Sundowns Relentlessness – Winner

With 62 minutes on the clock, it looked as if Swallows had found a working formula to nullify runaway league leaders Sundowns. The champions were seeing most of the ball (as usual), but struggling to break down the visitor’s defence with any meaning. With SuperSport having won the earlier game to close the gap between 1st and 2nd to just five points, any dropped points could have changed the narrative around their title charge. Within five minutes, the picture looked altogether different as (first) Neo Maema and (second) Themba Zwane scored. If you had gone to the kitchen to make a cup of tea in the 62nd minute, you probably would have missed both goals by the time you returned.

The Brazilians are not on the winner’s list simply because they collected three points in a home game against a team in the relegation zone. They are here because of the relentlessness they showed in what looked like a potentially tricky situation. The five-minute blitz is symbolic of how Sundowns have been able to find a way in many games this season. No team has scored more goals in the final 30 minutes of matches than Sundowns this season (14), and what’s even more remarkable is that they have not conceded a single goal from the 60th minute onwards. With a seven-point gap approaching the half-way stage, things are starting to look ominous.

8 – Sundowns have now won eight consecutive league games, their best run since a 10-game winning streak between March & May 2014.

Rulani Mokwena – Winner

We’d say he’s taken to the head coach role like a duck to water, but the truth is the duck was already in the water, only that it is now paddling solo. You get the drift. Four games in, his team have won all four, scoring 12 goals and conceding none. This weekend, he can enter Sundown’s history books.

4 – Rulani is only the second coach to win their first four league games in charge of Sundowns (also Antonio Lopez in 2010) & can become the first to start with 5 straight wins v Richards Bay this Friday.

Gavin Hunt – Winner

21 different teams have visited Cape Town City since October 2021 (some more than once) and only one (Sundowns) has returned home with all three points. For 15 months, winning away to Cape Town City has not been an easy task. In fact, this was Gavin Hunt’s last away game when he was at Chippa, before being suspended for the club’s woeful start to the 2021/22 season. A lot has happened since, including this remarkable streak of opening the scoresheet at his new job.

10 – SuperSport have scored first in each of their last ten league matches, their best such run in their PSL history.

Brandon Truter – Winner

Three goals for a Brandon Truter side is rare. Three goals for a Sekhukhune side is even rarer. But the year has started well for both.

2 – This is only the second time Sekhukhune scored 3 or more goals in the top flight (a 4-0 win v Baroka in Feb last year, also their first home game of the year).

Bradley Grobler’s Consistency – Winner

Another year, another goal for the evergreen Bradley Grobler. He has scored a league goal in the PSL in 16 different calendar years, a new competition record.

Losers

Cape Town City – Loser

Romain Folz was still at Marumo Gallants, Kaitano Tembo was at Sekhukhune, Dan Malesela was at Royal AM the last time Cape Town City kept a clean sheet in the league. It’s been that long. Eric Tinkler needs to find a solution to this problem before his talented group ends up fighting bottom-of-the-half battles in the second half of the campaign.

6 – City have failed to keep a clean sheet in six consecutive games, their second longest such run under Eric Tinkler (7 games ending in December 2016).

Ernst Middendorp – Loser

The fixture list has been a bit unkind to the German coach in that he’s faced the 3rd placed team and the log leaders in his first two games at Swallows. The next two home games will be a welcome reprieve.

Dan Malesela – Loser

Back-to-back losses for the first time since his return leaves Malesela and his side outside the relegation zone only by goal difference. He’s never lost three in a row at Gallants, and he will not want to start this weekend.