- Sundowns bomb out of Carling Cup
- Galaxy advance to quarter-finals
- Bongani Zungu sent off for rash tackle
WHAT HAPPENED: Galaxy advanced to the quarter-final of the Carling Knockout Cup on Wednesday night in front of their home crowd at the Mbombela Stadium. The Rockets got the better of Sundowns, who fielded a 'B' team as most of the club's regular players are out of the country.
Sead Ramovic's side let a 2-0 lead slip out of their grasp and saw Downs fighting back to take the game all the way to penalties after 2-2 in extra-time. Galaxy won the tie 5-4 on penalties.
The likes of captain Themba Zwane, Teboho Mpkoena, Ronwen Williams, Khuliso Mudau, Grant Kekana, Mothobi Mvala and Aubrey Modiba were all involved in Bafana Bafana's two international friendlies against Eswatini and Ivory Coast.
PARKER INCIDENT:
BackpageThe match was marred by Bongani Zungu's the game as he made a career-ending tackle on former Kaizer Chiefs striker Bernard Parker who was stretchered off as he broke his leg. The Masandawana midfielder was shown a straight red card and was visibly terrified after the incident on his way down the tunnel.
Galaxy got the better of Sundowns early on in the game through Sphiwe Mahlangu who found the net when Zungu failed to clear the first post, allowing the ball the crawl all the way to the Rockets' midfielder, who beat Abdelmounaim Boutouil to the ball before slotting past Reyaad Pieterse.
Rockets skipper Mlungisi Mbunjana then joined in the fun in the 16th minute when Higor Vidal played a corner kick and found the midfielder on the rise as he netted a header past the Downs goalie. Mbunjana was voted the Man of the Match by fans as he was impressive throughout the entire game.
DOWNS' FIGHT BACK: Skipper on the day, Marcelo Allende launched the fight back against Galaxy as he fired a grass cutter past Ntwari Fiacre. Gaston Sirino, who had been an outcast at the club as he requested to leave Chloorkop in the previous transfer window - came on to make the difference for Masandawana as he netted late in regulation time to force the game to extra time.
THE SHOOTOUT:
Galaxy (5)
Mbunjana - scored
Solomon Letsoenyo - scored
Pogiso Sanoka - scored
Vladimir Siladi - hit the up-right
Marks Munyai - scored
Samir Nurkovic - scored
Sundowns (4)
Ntwari saved Brian Onyango's attempt.
Sirino - scored
Allende - scored
Keabetswe Ramotsei - scored
Sphelele Mkhulise - scored
Lesiba Nku - Ntwari saved to win the match for Galaxy
WHAT'S NEXT: Galaxy have become the first team to enter their name in the hat for the quarter-final draw as the rest of the teams will play this weekend. Key fixtures to look forward to is Molefi Ntseki's Amakhosi who take on AmaZulu while Jose Riveiro will guide his Orlando Pirates side against the struggling Cape Town Spurs.
