Maritzburg hold Sundowns in coronation game, still face anxious relegation wait

At Loftus Versfeld

Maritzburg United face an anxious wait for Saturday's DStv Premiership fixtures to see if they’ll retain their status after their 1-1 draw against Mamelodi Sundowns on Tuesday evening.

The Team of Choice, who were bottom of the log at the start of the fixture with 29 points, got a crucial point that moved them to 30 points and 14th place.

However, their danger lies in the fact that of the bottom three teams, they not only have the most inferior goal difference (-16), but they've also scored the least goals (24) and conceded the most (40).

Their draw meant Chippa United, who host Golden Arrows in Gqeberha on Saturday, are currently bottom with 29 points, tied with Marumo Gallants, who are away to Swallows.

Chippa (-15) and Gallants (-5) have better goal differences, meaning that Maritzburg need big win favours to stay up.

They did well to see Jose Ali Meza cancel out Bradley Ralani's goal, but they needed more than that, especially with the chances they fluffed.

They had plenty of opportunities to put the game away and should they get relegated, they'll look back at this game as the one that got away.

With Saturday's CAF Champions League semi-final second league against Morocco's Wydad Casablanca in mind, Sundowns fielded a weakened side.

That said, they still sealed their sixth consecutive title win in the backdrop of Maritzburg's unhappiness of playing the game on Tuesday, alongside Alex Shakoane's passing last week and his burial on Tuesday morning.

Shakoane was honoured with a moment's silence before kick-off and a memento at half-time.

Maritzburg came out of the starting blocks like a team that knew this was their do-or-die moment. They asked the two pressing questions early on through Amadou Soukouna.

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