Mauricio Affonso’s brace fired Mamelodi Sundowns to their second Telkom Knockout (TKO) cup glory in the Premier Soccer League.

At a relatively packed Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban, Sundowns came from trailing against Maritzburg United by one goal to emerge victorious by 2-1 in Durban, Saturday evening.

The fearless Maritzburg team started off on the blocks like a house on fire. They were attacking with determination and optimism. Then Sundowns settled and the game balanced out. Masandawana had begun to raise the bar and forgot their defensive duties when Maritzburg went ahead against the run of play.

There was a penalty shout by Sundowns players in the first half of the TKO Cup final when Lebosa was hacked down by Mngonyama in the box. The match officials did not yield.

And Maritzburg struck. Benefiting from a mix-up between Sundowns defender Lebosa and goalkeeper Dennis Onyango, Judas Moseamedi lobbed the ball over the oncoming Onyango to give the Team of Choice a lead on the 39th minute of the first half.

In the second half, Offonso headed home twice, first to equalize on 54th minute and, the second, to give Sundowns a cup clincher, sunk the Team of Choice on the 74th minute.

Towards the end of the game, both coaches made telling substitutions. Maritzburg went for all out attack while Sundowns aimed to protect their lead, thus switching to a defensive mode. Then became an end-to-end affair with the match drawing to its dead end.

Just before the last kick of the match, Moseamedi was at it again. Throwing his gigantic body through a diving header from a long throw-in which was bridged with his teammate’s flick-on.

The match officials adjudged it offside. It was a close call. It could have gone either way. With utter disbelief, it got Maritzburg heach coach Eric Tinkler riled up with. Onyango’s final boot to restart the match was the last of the night.

With the long clearance sniffing the KwaZulu-Natal night breeze near the Durban coastline, the referee blew the final whistle to herald the 2019 Telkom Knockout Cup championships: Mamelodi Sundowns Football Club.

The momentous historic promise of winning a first cup in a maiden final appearance escaped Maritzburg United yet again. But this time, they missed out by a whisker.

To what is largely interpreted as a Maritzburg legitimate, Sundowns coach Pitso Mosimane said he didn’t see it. Continuing Mosimane added:

I thought he scored. My heart stopped. Luckily I saw the linesman raising his flag. If it was a goal, we benefitted. It’s a jungle.

Congratulations to Sundowns, Tinkler said with a heavy heart in few words. He went on to say that they dominated in the first half but couldn’t finish off the game because Sundowns are a quality side. If you don’t take your chances, you get punished, Tinkler filed off.

Masandawana last won the Telkom trophy in 2015, their first. Today, they were declared the 2019 champions, their second honours.