Cape Town - SuperSport United coach Stuart Baxter praised his side's determination and character after they twice rallied from behind to claim record a 2-2 draw with Orlando Pirates.
Pirates twice claimed the lead only for Matsatsantsa to rally from behind thanks to goals from Bradley Grobler and Denwin Farmer.
As a result, the Tshwane outfit sneaked into the top eight due to superior goal difference, with Golden Arrows finishing in ninth place after losing 2-1 to University of Pretoria.
"We went to the game knowing that we were dependent on another result to manage what we wanted to do really," Baxter told KickOff.
"But that was a big asking going out all guns blazing, going two-nil down and then having all our chances burnt so we didn't fancy doing that. So we wanted to look at the game, play carefully for about 45 minutes and see what the other result was and play on that result.
"So after 90 minutes I was very impressed with the character of the players to make sure that they are in next season's MTN8."
United and Pirates square off again on Saturday, May 28 in the Nedbak Cup final.