Orlando Pirates have one foot in the CAF Confederations Cup quarterfinals after holding Algeria side ES Setif to 0-0 draw in their Group A encounter at the Orlando Stadium.
While Pirates were well dominated for large parts of the second half after spurning several chances, the result meant they remained top of the group with nine points.
A draw in Pirates' last group game away to Enyimba will be sufficient for them to proceed while third-placed Setif with their five points are on the brink of elimination.
They will need Al-Ahly (four) to beat Enyimba (six) on Thursday evening, while also needing to beat the Libyans in their last group game.
Setif's frustration was evident in how they reacted at the final whistle where their goalkeeper Sofiane Khedairia started a scuffle that led to unsavoury scenes in the tunnel.
It summed up the simmering nature of a tense and physical game that had a lot at stake for both teams.
In what was a testy first half where the benches and the players were very much audible in the empty stadium.
Mozambican referee Celso Alvação had his hands full in the physical encounter where the Algerians tried every trick in the book to con him.
Pirates weren't averse to doing the same and with that, Alvação failed to manage the game effectively.
Players went down at the slightest contact and provocation was lurking at every corner. It was the typically unentertaining, but uncompromising CAF game.
Pirates though had the better of the first half, even though they struggled to hold their own in the dirty midfield battle.
While Setif's Abdelrahim Deghmoum was nabbed for offside in the seventh minute, Vincent Pule had the game's first chance in the eighth minute when he sent his shot straight to Setif goalkeeper Khedairia.
In the 18th minute, Khedairia nearly had a scare as Tshegofatso Mabasa ran at the defence, but had his shot blocked.
Pirates were then forced into an early 20th minute change as Siyabonga Mpontshane suffered a thigh injury after colliding with Setif's Daniel Lomotey.
The injury was serious enough for him to come off and he was replaced by Wayne Sandilands. The evergreen keeper wasn't called into action until the stroke of halftime where Setif captain Akram Djahnit forced a great save from him.
Pirates should have taken the lead in the 48th minute, but Mabasa inexplicably put the ball over the bar from a Fortune Makaringe cross. Five minutes later, Pule had a header that went wide, alongside a Makaringe shot in the 58th minute.
Those missed chances heralded a sustained period of Setif dominance as they realised a draw would not be enough for them.
One of the best chances they had was a Djahnit chance from a 63rd minute freekick that Sandilands saved very well.
Pirates absorbed that pressure well but had 83rd and 85th-minute chances from Deon Hotto and Ghabadinho Mhango that were wasted.
They nearly paid for them as Ibrahim El-Khalil Bekakchi's header three minutes from time went narrowly wide with Sandilands well beaten.