Limping Pirates on course to finishing with most draws in PSL this season

Orlando Pirates are on course to finish the season as the team who have drawn more league matches than any other as they battle for a top eight place in the standings.

The Buccaneers have been held to a stalemate in half of their 28 games to date and find themselves going into Wednesday’s penultimate round of fixtures in 10th place in the Absa Premiership.

But they still have a chance of ending in the top eight if they beat Ajax Cape Town at home on Wednesday and then finish strongly away against Lamontville Golden Arrows on May 27.

Five of the 14 draws have been goalless stalemates; Pirates have drawn 1-1 seven times and 2-2 twice - against Highlands Park and Cape Town City.

• 'I think football is not always fair,' says increasingly pressured Pirates coach JonevretOrlando Pirates’ desperation to finish in the Absa Premiership top eight in their 80th anniversary season comes to a head in their second-last match against Ajax Cape Town at Orlando Stadium on Wednesday night. 

Since new coach Kjell Jonevret arrived in February‚ Pirates have drawn six times in 11 league matches‚ which is a more than 50 percent return under the Swede.

Pirates will not be able to reach the Premier Soccer League record number of 17 draws in a single season‚ which is jointly held by SuperSport United (2012/13)‚ Free State Stars and Santos. Stars and Santos achieved the mark in the same season in 2005/6.

• Sundowns can forget about PSL title if they don't beat Maritzburg‚ says MosimanePitso Mosimane's diagnosis on Mamelodi Sundowns’ slow start in the CAF Champions League‚ that they have forgotten they are the tournament’s holders‚ applies to their inconsistent domestic league campaign. 

It cost Stars their top flight status but Santos won enough of their other games to stay up.

Pirates’ 14 draws this season are just ahead of 13 for sixth placed Polokwane City and 12 each for relegation-haunted Baroka and Bloemfontein Celtic.

Pirates have now also overtaken Chiefs as the club who have drawn the most PSL matches since the league’s establishment in 1996.

• Stellenbosch FC to get ball rolling in PSL promotion/relegation playoffsThe draw for the National First Division and Premier Soccer League promotion/relegation playoffs pits Stellenbosch FC against the PSL's 15th-placed team in the first match on May 31 in Cape Town. 

They have 211 draw in 752 matches to 209 for Chiefs.

SuperSport United have drawn 208 times and Bidvest Wits 201‚ even though they were down in the NFD for one season just over a decade ago and their overall total of PSL matches is 722.

- TMG Digital/TMG Sport