Lamontville Golden Arrows and AmaZulu shared the spoils‚ and the bragging rights‚ in a 1-1 draw in the Durban derby at the Sugar Ray Xulu Stadium in Durban on Sunday afternoon.

It was a tough encounter played with much intensity but the result does neither side any favours.

Arrows missed out on a chance to go into the top eight while AmaZulu are still only three points above the relegation drop zone.

AmaZulu‚ coming into the game having lost four of their last five league games‚ were first to make a breakthrough as captain Sadate Ouro-Akoriko scored with a header from a corner as Arrows went to sleep at the setpiece.

But the 12th minute lead lasted only six minutes before Divine Lunga won a freekick at the edge of the AmaZulu box to set up Arrows’ quick reply.

Richard Matloga took the freekick from a tight angle‚ striking it hard against the crossbar.

It bounced out and from the resultant melee‚ Lunga put it away for his first goal since joining the club from Zimbabwe at the start of the season.

Four cautions in the first half were not a reflection of a dirty game but a real derby clash‚ full of crunching tackles‚ with the mistimed challenges earning cautions from referee Thokozani Mkhize.

It had a real edge of urgency about it with both sides desperate for local bragging rights.

In the second half the stop-start nature of the match continued but Arrows should have had a penalty when substitute Lerato Lamola was brought down.

But the referee turned down what appeared to be legitimate appeals.

Arrows now turn their attention to winning a place in the Nedbank Cup final while AmaZulu play in 10 days’ time against SuperSport United.