Johannesburg - SuperSport United had to settle for a point a piece with Stellenbosch FC when the two sides met in their league clash on Tuesday evening in Pretoria.
A youthful Matsatsantsa side appears to have turned the corner after losing former head coach Kaitano Tembo, and have banded together into a stronger, more resilient unit.
SuperSport, who were without the services of captain and first choice goalkeeper Ronwen Williams had to survive a late surge of pressure from Stellenbosch and held on for a well-deserved point.
Their recent goalless stalemate against Stellies means interim coach Andre Arendse has managed three consecutive clean sheets, a record they would do well to extend if they are to solidify a top eight spot.
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Arendse said after starting in his new role, they had identified a leaky defence as one of their biggest problems
"I felt that we needed to start keeping clean sheets, we've had a real issue with that throughout the season so that's where we needed to start," Arendse said.
"We need to make it very difficult for opposition attackers because the reality is we're not gonna score every game and we're not gonna win every game so it was important we pay close attention to our defensive structure."
The Pretoria-based club currently hold eighth spot on the DStv Premiership table, a point in front of ninth placed Golden Arrows who have played one game less.
The run-in certainly won't be an easy one for Arendse's men as they face two relegation battling sides in Swallows FC and Baroka before closing off the season at home to Orlando Pirates.