Mamelodi Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso believes the Betway Premiership title race will be played until the last stages.

The Brazilians and Orlando Pirates shared the spoils after playing out to a 1-1 draw in the Betway Premiership.

Peter Shalulile opened the scoring for Sundowns in the 20th minute before Pirates youngster Cemran Dansin scored a 35th-minute equaliser at Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Pretoria.

The draw sees Sundowns move to the top of the league standings with 22 points after 11 matches, while Pirates remain in third place with 19 points from nine matches.

“The matches are going to decide the championship,” Cardoso told SuperSport.

“All the matches we’re going to play until we play the last one.

“I said that the same when this championship was launched, I said this championship will be played until the final and I think this championship will be played until the last stages.”

He added: “I predicted the match will be a very difficult match and, in the end, it was tactically well played. Obviously, Sundowns with more time with the ball and Orlando Pirates with a patient second half just with long balls which is very difficult to deal with of course.

“In the pitch, in some moments we didn’t allow the best football, I think that it’s clear also our options at the moment in the front is not helping too much to put more fire.

“We had to hold the substitutions because we knew we couldn’t play more than 20 minutes so I think it’s a fair result of what we saw in the pitch. Two teams very equal, third draw in the season, well the championship is open, let’s fight for it.”