Sundowns clinch record fifth straight Premiership title after tepid draw with City

Mamelodi Sundowns clinched their fifth straight DStv Premiership title when they drew 0-0 with Cape Town City at Loftus on Wednesday.

Although they would have loved to earn their crown with victory, City made them sweat as they tried to get a breakthrough.

The draw means Downs, on 58 points after 28 games, cannot be mathematically caught by any of Royal AM (45), City (41) or Orlando Pirates (41) below them in the table.

AS IT HAPPENED | Mamelodi Sundowns 0-0 Cape Town City

The men from Pretoria looked visibly downbeat after their shock  3-2 aggregate loss to Petro Luanda of Angola last weekend in the CAF Champions League quarter-finals.

However, their treble hopes are still alive now that the league title has been bagged alongside the MTN8 trophy from earlier in the season.

They next meet Royal AM in the Nedbank Cup semi-finals at Chatsworth Stadium in Durban this Saturday (19:00).

After a tepid first half that went by without incident, Sundowns had a long-range shot by Aubrey Modiba tipped over the bar by City goalkeeper Hugo Marques after the hour.

The hosts were pressing hard for the victory but City kept jabbing them away and depriving the champions-elect of clear cut chances.

Earlier, City could have snatched an unlikely lead themselves when Mduduzi Mdantsane couldn’t take advantage of a wide gap opening inside the Downs defence and fired wide of the mark.

With four minutes to go, Peter Shalulile went on a mazy run down the left flank but his goal-bound shot was blocked for a corner.

Gaston Sirino also attacked the City right flank and pinged a dangerous cross in added time that fell agonisingly short of Sundowns' men in the City box as the Capetonians cleared their lines frantically.

And nil-all is how it ended, with the trio