New foes await Sundowns and Pirates after their goalless draw
JOBURG -– Following their goalless draw, Mamelodi Sundowns and Orlando Pirates will now face new foes in their battle for league honours.
The Absa Premiership status quo remained the same for Mamelodi Sundowns but changed for Orlando Pirates as the two giants drew 0–0 in this top of the table clash at Orlando Stadium.
The might of Mamelodi in Tshwane versus the giants in Soweto had all the ingredients of a beautiful game but the only ingredient missing from the superb stew was the rattle of the net.
Pirates, as the home team, attacked more than Masandawana but both teams struggled to find the elusive goal.
Masandawana’s Lebogang Maboe, Themba Zwane, Thapelo Morena, and Emiliano Tade all had their fair chances of scoring while the Buccaneers’ wasteful trio, the Zambian pair of Augustine Mulenga and Justin Shonga and their teammate Luvuyo Memela also lacked the decisive finish.
Former Downs’ keeper and now a Buccaneer Wayne Sandilands had some brilliant moments in-between the posts as he saved what would have normally been clear-cut goals.
Sandilands was eventually pulled off due to a concussion following a collision with a Sundowns player and was replaced by Siyabonga Mpontshane who did an equally good job.
His counterpart in the Brazilian line-up Ugandan international Denis Onyango also had his moments of brilliance and hence it was no surprise that the two bulls locked horns and later separated with no victor.
Downs continue to occupy the summit of the Absa Premiership with 44 points from 24 games with only six remaining games in the 2018/19 season which comes to a close in early May.
The Buccaneers, on the other hand, leap-frogged Bidvest Wits into second spot by virtue of a superior goal difference. Both teams are on 41 points, also from 24 games.
Next up for the Buccaneers will be The Students (Wits), and The Ghosts will hope to spook the Clever Boys and remain second on the table.
The Brazilians go the Caf Champions League direction on the same Saturday [6 April] when they host Africa’s most decorated team, Egypt’s Al Ahly in the first leg of their quarter-final encounter at the Lucas ‘Masterpieces’ Moripe Stadium. They then return to league action and face the unpredictable Black Leopards in their own backyard of Thohoyandou which has become famously known as the ‘slaghuis’.
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