Dreary draw assures Wits of safety

The winless run of Bidvest Wits in the South African Premiership stretched to 14 games Tuesday when they were held 0-0 at home by fellow strugglers Black Leopards. But the point Wits picked up did assure them of top-flight football next season, leaving Leopards, Santos and Jomo Cosmos fighting to avoid relegation from the richest national football league on the continent. Unfashionable Johannesburg club Wits last won a league match five months ago at home to Platinum Stars, with seven draws and seven losses since taking them from mid-table comfort to the edge of the danger zone. Cosmos (16 points) seem doomed to finish bottom and be automatically demoted while Santos (23) and Leopards (25) are battling to dodge second-last position, which would mean play-offs with two first division clubs for a single place. This was one of the dreariest matches of the 2011-2012 season, which ends in mid-May, with neither team capable of stringing more than a couple of passes together and the goalkeepers were rarely tested. Leopards host Nigerians Warri Wolves Sunday in the CAF Confederation Cup hoping to overcome a 3-1 first-leg deficit and will draw comfort from their often suspect defence managing a rare clean sheet.