Mamelodi Sundowns maintained their lead at the summit of the league after an entertaining 1-1 draw against Orlando Pirates at Loftys Versfeld on Saturday afternoon.
It was a spectacular affair that lived up the hype, with streets packed, traffic jammed, more than two hours before kickoff, with the atmosphere around Loftus, matching the high intensity of one of the biggest fixtures South African football has on offer.
While Sundowns had the early dominance, matched when Peter Shalulile scored the opener on the 20th minute mark, Pirates, who looked overawed by their inexperienced midfield containing Masindi Nemtajela, Camren Dansin and Sihle Nduli silenced the critics.
The 20-year-old midfielder, who has come under major scrutiny, being dubbed not ready for a starting berth in the XI, netted a thunderous strike into Ronwen Williams top right corner, from a first time left footed volley from the edge of the area.
Buoyed by the equaliser, the visitors could have had the lead for the first time just after the break when Lebone Seema was played right through one v one with Williams, with a teammate ready for a tap-in, he opted to shoot and Williams pulled off a save from point blank range.
It became an end to end affair, after Miguel Cardoso made the first change just before the hour mark, with Jayden Adams coming on for Arthur Sales and Abdeslam Ouaddou bringing off Danisn and Evidence Makgopa for Patrick Maswanganyi and Yanela Mbuthuma.
However, up until the 70th minute – there wasn’t any clear cut chances to speak of until Tshepang Moremi found space on the edge of the area, but once again, Williams was equal to his effort.
With the game ending 1-1, Sundowns maintained their lead at the top of the table with 22 points, while Pirates have 19, with two games in hand.
