Golden Arrows and Baroka FC played to a 2-2 draw in a thrilling Absa Premiership match at the Princess Magogo Stadium near Durban on Sunday.
Arrows took the lead against the run of play in the 17th minute when Gift Motupa was played through on the left side of the park, and he managed to hold off a defender before firing home from a tight angle.
It was Motupa’s seventh goal of a season in which he has spent a lot of the time coming on as a substitute.
The Limpopo side were unlucky not to have gone ahead four minutes earlier, when a powerful left-footed shot from midfielder Mududzi Mdatsane forced a full-stretched save from Arrows goalkeeper Nkosingiphile Gumede, with the ball striking the crossbar and bouncing away from danger.
Arrows, with just one win in their last 13 games, seemed to find a new lease of life in the final 10 minutes of the first half.
They managed to find the equaliser when Danny Venter, recently signed from Free State Stars, powered in from the right and unleashed a powerful left-footed effort past Baroka No 1 Virgil Vries in the 42nd minute.
Arrows took the lead in the 67th minute when second-half substitute Lerato Lamola had his shot on goal half-stopped by Namibian international goalkeeper Vries, before Knox Mutizwa slotted the ball home.
Baroka managed to square matters in the 75th minute when Motupa got his second goal of the match, as he took advantage of some jittery Arrows defending to slot the loose ball past goalkeeper Gumede.
Baroka now have 26 points from 19 games, and travel to Bethlehem to face Free State stars in their next league encounter on Saturday.
Arrows, who like Baroka were early season pace-setters on the league table, have 23 points from 19 games, and will be involved in a KwaZulu-Natal derby against AmaZulu in their next league fixture on Saturday.