Tashreeq Matthews saved Mamelodi Sundowns’ blushes with a late second-half strike as they earned a hard-fought 1-1 draw against English Championship side Cardiff City at Sportzentrum Wörgl in Austria on Tuesday afternoon.
Having already succumbed to two defeats, Sundowns thought they were off to a brilliant start when Peter Shalulile found the back of the net as early as 33 seconds but he was correctly flagged offside.
In the 12th minute, Jody February was tested from range by David Turnbull’s shot which he parried before collecting it on the second attempt.
Shalulile, in acres of space, skied his shot in the 17th minute from outside the Cardiff box.
Sundowns were denied the opener when Jak Alnwick dived low to push Lucas Ribeiro’s free-kick out of play in the 20th minute.
A high-tempo first-half ended with both sides unable to find the opener, with the score tied at 0-0.
Cardiff opened the scoring in the 46th minute as Joel Colwill applied a brilliant finish past Reyaad Pieterse to make it 1-0.
Record-signing striker Arthur Sales got on the end of Aubrey Modiba’s cross in the 48th minute but failed to find the target.
Themba Zwane’s introduction late on spurred life into Sundowns who restored parity, making it 1-1 in the 78th minute through Matthews.
A share of the spoils is how the match ended, with Sundowns yet to register a win after two opening losses.
Manqoba Mngqithi’s troops will hope for a better showing when they wrap up their pre-season tour with both Saudi First Division side Al Arabi and Saudi Pro League champions Al Hilal on Friday, July 26.
