Black Leopards moved two points clear of the relegation zone at the bottom of the Absa Premiership on Tuesday night after playing to a goalless draw with Bidvest Wits in Johannesburg.

The Limpopo side could still be overtaken by second-from-the-bottom Santos and forced into the promotion/relegation playoffs, but with just two matches left for both teams, Leopards will be confident of retaining their topflight status.

The Clever Boys, despite racking up a 14th successive league match in which they failed to record a win, are now mathematically certain that they will not be relegated. However, their ailing form remains a major concern.

The opening stages of the match saw little in the way of goalmouth action, with both teams struggling to create anything more than mere half chances. Wits looked more comfortable on the ball and they got their attacking players more involved in passing movements than their opponents.

Wits’ Emille Baron took two knocks from late challenges by Kingston Nkhatha (which earned the striker a yellow card) in the dying minutes of the first half, the second of which seemed to injure the goalkeeper’s left ankle. He was replaced at the start of the second half by Energy Murambadoro.

Around the hour mark, Leopards built up a head of steam and tested the substitute goalkeeper with an effort from the edge of the box by Joshua Obaje. Murambadoro proved to be equal to the shot, making a decent save low to his left.

The best chance of the night saw Nkhatha shoot on target from the ‘D’ of the Wits penalty area with just a few minutes of regulation time left, but once again Murambadoro denied the Limpopo side with a fine save.

Report by Backpagepix