PRETORIA – A resilient Pyramids side held Mamelodi Sundowns to a goalless draw in their CAF Champions League clash in Pretoria despite playing the final nine minutes with 10 men.
In Algeria, defending champions USM Alger also continued their fine form with another win to their name. The reigning champions welcomed Egyptian side, Modern Future to Algers where they managed a narrow 1-0 win thanks to a 65th minute strike by Abdoulaye Kanu to give the Algerians the win.
The result sees USM Alger retain the lead at the top with 9 points, followed by Future with 6, while Al-Hilal Benghazi are third with 3 points ahead of SuperSport who remain at the bottom with 0 points.
In Pretoria, the battling Egyptian outfit, Pyramids, frustrated the South African hosts for long spells and were unfortunate not to snatch a winner themselves late on at Loftus Versfeld Stadium.
Sundowns saw a second-half Peter Shalulile strike ruled out for offside as their underwhelming start to their title defence continued.
Pyramids remained bottom of Group A but is now level on four points with opponents who failed to capitalise on their chances to go top.
The other sides in the group are also on four points which makes the group delicately poised.
The visitors faced an early blow when Karim Hafez was denied an opener for a foul in the build-up.
And despite losing defender Osama Galal to a late red card, Pyramids stood firm to return home with a hard-earned point.
Ramadan Sobhi forced an early stop from Sundowns keeper Denis Onyango, while Ahmed el-Shenawy twice denied lively striker Shalulile.
At the other end, Mosa Lebusa and El-Shenawy almost scored comical own goals for either side in an open, end-to-end clash.
Sundowns will be frustrated not to take advantage of their late numerical superiority as goal-shy Pyramids continued to threaten a winner.
But a share of the spoils keeps both teams in the hunt to reach the CAF Champions League quarter-finals heading into their final three pool games.
Elsewhere, former African champions, Wydad AC finally got off the mark in the Group stage campaign after securing a dramatic win over Simba AC.
After losing both their opening matches against Jwaneng Galaxy and Asec Mimosas, the Moroccan giants were desperate for a result against the East Africans who are yet to get a win in Group B.
With the match destined for a goalless draw, Zakaria Draoui sent the home crown into frenzy with a goal in the dying minutes of the game to secure the confidence boosting win for the former champions who remain in contention following the vital win.
Interestingly, the two sides will meet again on December 19 when Simba plays host to the Moroccans in what promises to be another action-packed encounter between the two sides who are looking at catching up to their group leaders.
The result sees them trade places with Simba who now is at the bottom of Group B, while Wydad goes third behind Jwaneng Galaxy and table toppers, Asec Mimosas.
Meanwhile in another fixture that took place in the northern part of the continent, ES Tunis were held to a goalless draw by Angola’s Petro de Luanda in a Group C match played in Tunis.
The result sees the Angolans retaining their top position in the group with 7 points, three ahead of ES Tunis who are on 4 points, while Al-Hilal and ES Sahel are tied on 3 points each.
Petro will be looking at further extending their lead when they play host to ES Tunis in the next round of matches on 19 December, while Asec Mimosas welcome the giant slaying, Jwaneng Galaxy.
