Betway Premiership defending champions Mamelodi Sundowns suffered a shock 1-0 defeat to Golden Arrows in a league tie at the King Zwelithini Stadium in Umlazi on Wednesday afternoon.
It was Sundowns’ first defeat of the 2025/26 season, and they also missed a chance to go top of the table. They are now on 18 points, one behind leaders Sekhukhune United, who have played two games less.
Masandawana made two changes to the side that beat Durban City FC over the weekend. Jayden Adams came in for SA Under-20 international Kutlwano Letlhaku, who has travelled to the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Chile with Amajita.
Peter Shalulile was also the preferred striker upfront in place of current league joint-top scorer Iqraam Rayners.
MAMELODI SUNDOWNS UNLEASHED THEIR LATEST SIGNINGS IN DURBAN
New signings Katlego ‘Tsiki’ Ntsabeleng, as well as Nuno Santos, made the match-day squad for the Betway Premiership defending champions after being named on the bench.
Arrows winger Siyanda Ndlovu and striker Junior Dion were the most effective players in the first half, causing problems on the Sundowns left side.
Dion came close to opening the scoring in the 25th minute with only Ronwen Williams to beat, but his touch was not enough as the ball went wide.
GOLDEN ARROWS STUN DEFENDING BETWAY PREMIERSHIP CHAMPIONS
Five minutes later, Arrows were finally rewarded for piling pressure with a goal from Dion. The Ivorian capitalised on the sloppy defending from Sundowns’ defence after scoring from a corner kick.
Arrows were by far the better side in the first half, with Sundowns only having one shot on target.
The visitors made an early substitution in the second half. They brought in new signing Santos for Jayden Adams, whose form has dropped in recent games.
Despite a much-improved second-half performance by Sundowns, the score remained 1-0 in favour of Arrows.
Arrows have also jumped to ninth on the log with 10 points from eight matches.
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