Orlando Pirates and 10-man Maritzburg United were forced to share the spoils after playing out to a goalless draw at the Harry Gwala Stadium in the Absa Premiership on Friday, writes Dylan Appolis.

Milutin Sredojevic’s side came into this encounter off the back of a 1-0 victory over Ajax Cape Town at the Orlando Stadium on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Fadlu Davids’ men were forced to share the spoils after playing out to a 1-1 draw with AmaZulu at the King Zwelithini Stadium.

The encounter started with a good tempo as both sides showed their attacking intent in the opening exchanges of the match.

However, it was the Team of Choice who almost opened the scoring in the 14th minute when Siphesihle Ndlovu made his way through on goal, but Happy Jele was on hand to deny the forward’s goal-scoring opportunity.

Ndlovu threatened once more in the 28th minute after heading his effort towards goal, but the attacker could not steer past Pirates shot-stopper Wayne Sandilands.

Sandilands came to his side’s rescue two minutes later after he pulled off a great save to deny Maritzburg striker Evans Rusike’s curling effort, the scoreline remaining goalless.

Ndlovu continued to pose a threat to the Buccaneers defence as he produced a volleyed effort at goal, but the striker blazed his effort wide of the target.

Pirates came close to scoring just five minutes before the half-time interval when Maritzburg goalkeeper produced two fine saves to deny both Thabo Matlaba and Thamsanqa Gabuza respectively.

The visitors thought they had taken the lead in the 53rd minute when Ntsikelelo Nyauza found the back of the net, but the referee ruled out the goal after calling play back for an earlier incident.

As the match went on, both sides struggled to carve out any clear-cut opportunities at goal.

With 10 minutes left to play, Maritzburg were dealt a blow when the lively Ndlovu was sent off after picking up a second bookable offense.

Both sides pressed forward in search of the winning goal, but neither side could find the all-important goal as they shared the spoils at the Harry Gwala Stadium.

In the other Absa Premiership matches:

Ajax Cape Town recorded their first win of the 2017-18 campaign after they beat Polokwane City 2-0 at Cape Town Stadium, after Prince Nxumalo scored a brace to claim all three points for his side.

Photo: Steve Haag/BackpagePix