Sundowns sink Amazulu as Lucas Ribeiro hits a hat-trick

All the goals came in the second half when Sundowns' relentless pressure finally paid off and Ribeiro punished the visitors on three occasions and subsequently go 12 points clear at the top of the standings.

Masandawana started the contest on the front foot with Gaston Sirino going close to opening the scoring with two efforts that went wide in the first 15 minutes.

Amazulu mostly relied on catching the home side on the counter-attack and would have been pleased to go into the halftime break with the match still goalless.

It all changed after the interval though when Ribeiro opened his account just three minutes into the second half, pouncing on the rebound when goalkeeper Olwethu Mzimela could only parry Sirino's low shot.

The Brazilian would double the lead 10 minutes later, getting on the end of a cutback from Lebohang Maboe before beating Mzimela.

The final nail in the coffin was delivered with 12 minutes from full-time as Ribeiro completed his hat-trick after receiving a sublime pass from Bongani Zungu.

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