Orlando Pirates frustrated after being held by 10-man Stellenbosch

It was gusty performance from the home team after they were forced to play for more than an hour with 10 men following a straight red card to defender Brian Onyango in the 35th minute.

With Mamelodi Sundowns picking up maximum points against Amazulu, the result leaves Pirates a massive 18 points behind the log leaders but they do have four matches in hand.

Both teams came into the contest on the back of contrasting results in the Nedbank Cup with Stellies controversially being knocked out by Kaizer Chiefs while the Buccaneers beat SuperSport United in a penalty shootout.

It was an even game up until just after the half hour mark when Onyango was given his marching orders by the referee after bringing down Tshegofatso Mabasa just outside the box, who was deemed to be through on goal.

The resultant free kick saw Kabelo Dlamini rattle the cross-bar of Stellenbosch goalkeeper Masuluke Oscarine, who was well beaten.

The hosts then sacrificed their attacking intent to remain compact throughout the rest of the game to keep the Soweto giants at bay.

The closest Pirates came to finding a winner was in the 76th minute when Relebohile Mofokeng drew a fine save out of Masuluke to the frustration of the supporters in the stands.

Stellies almost snatched all three points towards the end of the match when a speculative long-range effort from Enyinnaya Godswill caught Sipho Chaine flat-footed but the goalkeeper recovered just in time to produce the save.

In the end Stellenbosch's defensive prowess came to the fore and earned them a valuable point which sees them remain third in the league standings.

READ MORE: Mamelodi Sundowns back to winning ways with AmaZulu rout