Mwape Musonda gave Black Leopards a lifeline in their fight to avoid the drop from the Absa Premiership when his 58th minute header, his ninth league goal of the season, earning Lidoda Duvha a 1-0 victory over Bidvest Wits in a penultimate league encounter at the FNB Stadium on Wednesday night.
Leopards are, however, not yet completely out of the woods as last night’s victory only ensures they remain in the 14th spot after taking their point tally to 29.
The Limpopo side can still be drawn to the promotion/relegation play-offs that involve a team that finishes on the 15th position where their neighbours Baroka are after losing 4-1 to SuperSport United last night.
Baroka are now one point behind Leopards (14th) and AmaZulu FC (13th) and face a tough finish on Saturday against log leaders Kaizer Chiefs, who need to beat them to have a possibility of winning the title ahaed of Mamelodi Sundowns.
Leopards’ last match is not easy one either as they face second-placed Sundowns, who are now separated by only three goals with Chiefs.
The big losers though in the relegation dogfight on the night was AmaZulu FC, who allowed Stellenbosch FC’s Lelethu Skelem to equalizer in the 82nd minutes of the second half to draw 1-1.
AmaZulu had looked like they’d put themselves clear of other strugglers when they took a 1-0 lead through Siphesihle Maduna’s first half beauty.
The victory would have taken Usuthu to 31 points, where both Leopards and Baroka were not going to touch them even if they'd won their tough matches on Saturday.
But now Usuthu may have to beat Highlands Park on Saturday to ensure there’s not even a hint of them going to the play-offs if both Baroka and Leopards produce miraculous wins in their last matches.
The team that’s really in trouble and possibly relegated now is Polokwane City who remain rooted at the bottom with 25 points after losing 3-0 to Sundowns last night.
Polokwane can, however, still catch Baroka on 28 points if they beat Wits 7-0 on Saturday – something that looks really unlikely.
In what was a tight affair, Musonda’s goal came at the right time and they did well to hold on to it despite Wits pilling on the pressure in the closing stages.
Wits came to this match with a better form having avoided defeat in seven matches in which they won two, including the last one against log leaders Chiefs on Sunday, and drawing the other five since entering the bio bubble set up by the Premier Soccer League in Gauteng.
Leopards on the other hand were really limping and had a possibility of being relegated for the third time, after winning two and losing their last two that include a 1-0 defeat against fellow strugglers AmaZulu FC on Saturday.
Leopards’ win might be enough though to keep them in the big time even if they don’t pick a point on Saturday as long as Baroka lose their match against Chiefs.
Wits still have all to do on Saturday against Polokwane to have any chance to catch SuperSport United on the third spot, where a team finishing there will represent SA in the Caf Confederation Cup alongside Nedbank Cup winners.
Gavin Hunt’s team dropped from fourth to fifth on goal difference to Orlando Pirates after Gabadinho Mhango scored his 15th league goal of the season in Bucs’ 1-0 win over Maritzburg United.
Mhango is level with Highlands Park’s Peter Shalulile, who also scored the winner in Highlands 1-0 victory over Cape Town City.
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