History seems to favour Birds

Moroka Swallows have not enjoyed a dominant record against most teams in recent years, but Black Leopards are one opponent they have traditionally relished playing.

Ahead of tonight's promotion-relegation play-offs fixture at Dobsonville Stadium, Swallows and Leopards have clashed on 21 occasions in all competitions.

And Leopards have been victorious in a paltry two of those - and never away at the Birds, who have a near-perfect home record against Lidoda Duvha.

Swallows have won six of the previous seven encounters against Leopards, with the other game drawn - the last of which was a 1-0 victory at the end of the 2012-13 season before Leopards' relegation.

Lidoda Duvha's last win was almost nine years ago when they triumphed 2-0 at home as Robert Ng'ambi and Godfrey Ramudzuli got on the score sheet. That is their only league victory, with the side claiming a 3-0 success in the Absa Cup in 2003, their only other win.

The 11 matches that have been played at Swallows' home ground have yielded eight wins and three draws, with the Birds scoring an impressive 26 goals.

Ominously as well perhaps for Leopards is that Swallows' top scorer in fixtures between these two sides is veteran forward Siyabonga Nomvethe, who appeared to be hitting form at the end of the campaign with the goal that helped the Birds off the bottom of the table on the final day of the league season as they beat Bloemfontein Celtic.

Swallows' biggest win in matches between these two was a 5- 2 success in 2011-12, while Leopards' greatest triumph came in that Absa Cup win 12 years ago.