Stellenbosch continued their unbeaten start to 2020 with a 1-1 PSL draw at Bloemfontein Celtic on Saturday.
Stellies took the game to their hosts and were denied a 23rd-minute penalty appeal when Jayden Adams was brought down in the box.
But they did break the deadlock a minute before the break when Lelethu Skelem pounced on a loose ball to fire his side into the lead.
They were unfortunate to concede the goal they did, when Menzi Masuku’s deflected shot wrong-footed goalkeeper Lee Langeveldt just before the hour mark.
Stellies, though, continued to dominate the game and Skelem and Nathan Sinkala both had chances to snatch a valuable away point for the seventh-place Winelands side, but put their efforts wide.
And coach Steve Barker believes his team was unlucky not to get a win in their first match on the road this year. He says: “I thought we were unfortunate not to get maximum points.
“In the first half, we controlled the game and created the better opportunities to score and deservedly went into half time 1-0 up.
“Second half, I thought the first 15-20 minutes were going to be key and we were unlucky to concede the goal, but once they scored, the response was really good.
“We had some really good chances to get the winning goal, but I thought with more composure and quality, we could have taken the three points.
“I was pleased with the performance, but we didn’t take the chance to get maximum points at Celtic, which doesn’t happen often.”