SuperSport United and Zesco United played out to a goalless draw in the first leg of their CAF Confederation Cup quarterfinal on Friday evening.
Bradley Grobler could have opened the scoring as early as the sixth minute at Lucas Moripe Stadium, but the South African national team striker fluffed his lines after being picked out by Grant Kekana unmarked inside the box.
As it happens, Grobler had the ball in the net in the 14th minute but the goal was ruled out for a handball which coach Eric Tinkler was still scratching his head about after the match.
Tinkler's charges continued to but Zesco under pressure throughout the first half but could not capitalise on the opportunities they were allowed, particularly set-pieces.
Zesco, coached by Serbian Zlatko Krmpotic, closed the half the better team after absorbing Matsatsantsa's pressure but could not find the killer blow.
The visitors opened the second half at Lucas Moripe Stadium as they finished the first, but could still not find a way past Ronwen Williams in SuperSport's goal.
SuperSport's midfield eventually took hold of the match again, without fashioning a clear opening - even after bringing on Thabo Mnyamane and Sipho Mbule.
Mindful of leaving themselves with too much to do in the second leg, Krmpotic's charges retreated into their shell by playing on the counter-attack.
Ultimately, the tactic worked as the teams had to settle for the share of spoils after 90 minutes.
Krmpotic spoke of being satisfied with the '1st half' of this CAF Confederation Cup quarterfinal tie. Tinkler, meanwhile, spoke animatedly about the officiating of Gabonese referee Eric Otogo-Castane "not being up to standard... it took away the shine off the game".
That said, the 47-year-old believes SuperSport are still in the ascendancy in the tie despite not scoring at home.
"Our objectives here, believe it or not... task completed," he said in the post-match television interview.
"We wanted to keep a clean sheet; it's great for us, not for them. We're going to go over there [in Ndola] and they're going to have to come at us which will give us an opportunity to hurt them. They're going to have to open up more than they did here, which is ideal for us... that's our strength."