RUSTENBURG – In-form Bloemfontein Celtic were held to a goalless draw by bottom-of-the-log Platinum Stars in an Absa Premiership match at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium near Rustenburg on Wednesday evening.
The result was of no real value to either side, with Celtic having gone into the match with four wins from their last five matches in league and cup action, while struggling Stars have only won one of their 11 league games played this season.
Despite their lowly league table position, Stars looked up for the challenge and Celtic’s Cameroonian goalkeeper Patrick Tignyemb was the busier of the two goalkeepers on the night.
Stars’ Vuyo Mere had the best scoring chances for the hosts, with his first-half effort forcing a good save from the Celtic No 1, while Mere’s second-half power effort went narrowly over the crossbar.
In midfield, Celtic did well to shut down any enterprising move that was set up by the experienced Stars duo of Mere and Malawian Robert Ng’ambi.
Upfront, the visitors sorely missed their injured goal-getter Ndumiso Mabena – a former Stars player – with too much left for Deon Hotto to do.
Meanwhile, Maritzburg United’s winless league run was stretched to seven matches after they played to a 0-0 draw with Polokwane City at the Old Peter Mokaba Stadium.
Polokwane extended their run of league games without defeat to four, although only one of those was a win.
The home side looked sharp early on, but Maritzburg keeper Richard Ofori was untroubled by a couple of tame efforts.
Instead, it was George Chigova in goal for Polokwane City, who had to be on his toes as shots came in from Deolin Mekoa and Mxolisi Kunene.
Evans Rusike was also close to sliding in a cross from Kunene in the 39th minute as Maritzburg ended the half with intent.
The hosts assumed control after the restart with some purposeful play, but when a chance fell the way of Rendani Ndou on the hour mark, Ofori was on hand to make a superb block.
Rise and Shine ended the stronger side and were inches away from scoring on a couple of occasions as the KZN side held on grimly for the point.