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Cape Town - There were no goals between Mamelodi Sundowns and newly-crowned Telkom Knockout champions Baroka at the Lucas Moripe Stadium on Tuesday night.
The visitors from Limpopo were still riding high after claiming their first-ever top-flight title by beating mighty Orlando Pirates on Saturday, although their fortunes in the PSL have been far less rosy.
Sundowns, meanwhile, were coming off five wins in their last seven matches across all competitions, and looking to leapfrog Bidvest Wits into second place on the table.
As it happened, a match that promised much delivered little, although neither team will probably be too unhappy with the result, which keeps Sundowns in third place on the table and sees Baroka move up to 12th place from 14th, a little bit clearer of the danger zone.
Sundowns had the better of the chances in the first half, but were wasteful in front of goal.
Aubrey Ngoma was set up nicely inside the box by Jeremy Brockie shortly after the half-hour mark, but his finish was sorely lacking.
As the first half winded down, Baroka also started to create a few opportunities, and they came close to scoring just prior to the break only to be denied by a smart intervention from Thapelo Morena.
Baroka had Elvis Chipezeze to thank for keeping them level early in the second half after the keeper pulled off a fantastic save to deny Brockie, who had been teed up by a superb cross from Gaston Sirino.
Sundowns were picking up the tempo now with Brockie causing all sorts of problems, but Chipezeze was on hand again to keep his side in the game in the 55th minute.
The second half proved to be a mostly scrappy affair, and as the match wore on the Sundowns fans started to voice their frustration at the lack of goalmouth action.
Opportunities proved to be few and far between, however, and the home side ultimately had to settle for a point after a frustrating night's work in Tshwane.
