Pirates only side left without a draw

It took Mamelodi Sundowns 21 games before registering their first draw of the Betway Premiership season as they were held to a 1-1 stalemate away against Lamontville Golden Arrows on Wednesday.

It means that Orlando Pirates, who have played 17 games, remain the only side in the league without a draw this season.

The second-placed Buccaneers have 13 wins and four defeats as they trail leaders Sundowns by 16 points.

Only once in the history of the domestic game has a club managed to go through an entire campaign without drawing – back in the very first season of the National Professional Soccer League in 1971 when Witbank Black Aces played themselves into the record books.

Aces finished without drawing a game and a further four clubs drew only once, although clubs played 24 league games that season and in an era where defence was secondary to all-out attack and goals were aplenty. Pirates, who won the inaugural NPSL crown in 1971, scored 81 goals in their 24 games, but second placed Chiefs did even better with 83, and Aces were top with 85 goals, all averaging close to four goals scored per fixture.

In total there have been nine clubs who have drawn a single game in a season, with Lusitano in 1978 being the most remarkable.

They played a 34-game season and won the first unified title after the end of separate leagues in the country.

Since the launch of the Premier Soccer League in 1996, the record for the least number of draws in a season sits at three. It was first set by Santos in the 1997-98 season when clubs played 34 games and then matched in 30-game seasons by Hellenic (2002/03), Thanda Royal Zulu (2008/09), Mpumalanga Black Aces (2010/11) and Lamontville Golden Arrows (2013/14). In the last three cases, they all were relegated.