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Title-chasing Santos could only take a single point as they found themselves evenly matched against Orlando Pirates in a 0-0 draw at Athlone on Friday.
Both sides punctuated their early play with pace and crisp passing, although the final balls into the box failed to pick out team-mates.
There were no chances early on, although it wasn’t a case of either side holding back on attack, but rather sound defensive work and quick closing down of the man with the ball.
Only in the 23rd minute was there a sniff of goal, but an unmarked Thulasizwe Mbuyane found himself an inch to short to reach Dikgang Mabalane’s nicely flighted cross.
Six minutes later there was a real chance when Mabalane whipped in a superb cross, which was met by Teko Modise on the run – his header packed some power, but flashed over the cross-bar.
Santos had to wait until five minutes before the break for their first chance, which was created by the industry of Erwin Isaacs and Ryan Chapman down the right wing, but when the ball was squared, Phikolethu Spelman totally miscued his shot from 12-yards out.
A make-shift Santos defence, with Zairon van Beulen in for the suspended Mogogi Gabonamong, did well to soak up some early second half pressure from Pirates around the edge of the area.
Chance again remained at a premium for both sides and it was only in the 65th minute that there was some serious goal-mouth action as Eleazar Rodgers had his header cleared off the line by Rooi Mahamutsa after a poor attempt at a clearance from a free kick from Moeneeb Josephs.
The Soweto outfit soon replied with their first chance of the stanza when Thulasizwe Mbuyane cut in on goal and fired a shot across the goal-mouth which was not too far off.
With 10 minutes to go Santos created two fantastic opportunities, but in quick succession Isaacs lifted the ball over goal after getting a clean run in, while Graham King was unable to move quickly enough to keep a point blank header from going over the bar.
In the final minute Pirates also had an excellent chance to seal the victory, but Terror Fanteni sent a header wide of goal with only Tshepo Motsoeneng to beat – this was a game that was destined not to have any goals, although a draw was a fair result.
Both sides punctuated their early play with pace and crisp passing, although the final balls into the box failed to pick out team-mates.
There were no chances early on, although it wasn’t a case of either side holding back on attack, but rather sound defensive work and quick closing down of the man with the ball.
Only in the 23rd minute was there a sniff of goal, but an unmarked Thulasizwe Mbuyane found himself an inch to short to reach Dikgang Mabalane’s nicely flighted cross.
Six minutes later there was a real chance when Mabalane whipped in a superb cross, which was met by Teko Modise on the run – his header packed some power, but flashed over the cross-bar.
Santos had to wait until five minutes before the break for their first chance, which was created by the industry of Erwin Isaacs and Ryan Chapman down the right wing, but when the ball was squared, Phikolethu Spelman totally miscued his shot from 12-yards out.
A make-shift Santos defence, with Zairon van Beulen in for the suspended Mogogi Gabonamong, did well to soak up some early second half pressure from Pirates around the edge of the area.
Chance again remained at a premium for both sides and it was only in the 65th minute that there was some serious goal-mouth action as Eleazar Rodgers had his header cleared off the line by Rooi Mahamutsa after a poor attempt at a clearance from a free kick from Moeneeb Josephs.
The Soweto outfit soon replied with their first chance of the stanza when Thulasizwe Mbuyane cut in on goal and fired a shot across the goal-mouth which was not too far off.
With 10 minutes to go Santos created two fantastic opportunities, but in quick succession Isaacs lifted the ball over goal after getting a clean run in, while Graham King was unable to move quickly enough to keep a point blank header from going over the bar.
In the final minute Pirates also had an excellent chance to seal the victory, but Terror Fanteni sent a header wide of goal with only Tshepo Motsoeneng to beat – this was a game that was destined not to have any goals, although a draw was a fair result.
