Sundowns put six of the best past plucky amateurs Mathaithai

It was inevitable Mamelodi Sundowns would stroll past their third-tier opponents Mathaithai to advance to the quarterfinals of the Nedbank Cup but few would have put their money on Downs opening the scoring inside 60 seconds.

Sundowns made eight changes from the team that was defeated 2-1 away by Maritzburg United in the Premiership at the weekend but the wholesale changes didn’t seem to disturb their rhythm, as they thumped the Free State ABC Motsepe League side 6-0 in their last-16 clash at Lucas Moripe in Atteridgeville on Tuesday evening.

The amateurs from Botshabelo were probably still weak in their knees trying to shrug off the nerves of coming shoulder to shoulder with the galaxy of the Downs stars when they failed to deal with a harmless Aubrey Modiba cross from the right and Bradley Ralani punished them to make it 1-0 with just under a minute played.

Those rooting for Mathaithai must have feared the worst as Sundowns struck again three minutes later, albeit fortuitously, after Ralani turned provider as his cross, again from the right side, hit Themba Zwane’s shins and went in past the keeper Mbali Tshabalala to make it 2-0.

The memories of Sundowns walloping fourth-tier Powerlines 24-0 a decade ago might have come to the minds of Mathaithai, but they  appeared to settle their nerves and had a few encouraging forward movements as they started stringing some passes together.

While Mathaithai rode their luck in the first half, they gave a good account of themselves and those who were watching SA football for the first time would have found it hard to differentiate the teams with a huge gulf in resources.

The amateurs started to believe in themselves and did well to keep Downs at bay going into the halftime break.

Their second half start was better and they grew in confidence with each passing minute that Sundowns surged forward but struggled to find the decisive defence-splitting passes that normally tear opposing defences apart.

Though Sundowns were never expected to break a sweat or be put under the pump against third-tier opponents the amateurs were not easily picked apart once their nerves settled.

It took Sundowns 65 minutes to score their third goal and Mathaithai allowed in another innocuous cross from the right to concede as Thabiso Kutumela bundled home after a scramble in the box.

Kutumela was too clever for Mathaithai’s offside trap and made it 4-0 a few minutes later and substitute Lebohang Maboe scored a classy goal with seven minutes remaining to make it 5-0.

From there on it looked a practice session of 11 against 11 at their Chloorkop training pace as another substitute Andile Jali got in on the act in the 88th minute for Downs' sixth goal.

While George Maluleka did not even make the match-day squad as had been expected given the midfielder's lack of game time, Sundowns still made sweeping changes in the second half to refresh the team with one eye on a crucial Caf Champions League group stage game against their former coach Pitso Mosimane’s Al Ahly.

Downs host Mosimane’s reigning African champions at FNB Stadium on Saturday afternoon looking for a win that will almost certainly seal a place in the quarterfinals.