Draws are the hardest thing in this league to call. You can feel a result coming, you can talk yourself into a home win, and then two sides cancel each other out and everyone's slip is in the bin. On Friday night Stellenbosch and Sekhukhune United finished 1-1, and among the Prediz fans who had a go at that one, Philani was the man who had written down exactly that.

It is the kind of prediction that quietly wins seasons. Nobody else who played that fixture got the result right at all, never mind the scoreline, which tells you how few people fancied the share of the points. Sekhukhune went into it fifth on eight points from six, Stellenbosch scrapping in the same congested middle. A draw was always the sensible answer. Sensible answers are the ones most of us talk ourselves out of.

It also explains the gap at the top of our Betway Premiership leaderboard. Philani leads on 61 points. Thabang is second on 20. Lerato is third on 3. That is not a race, it is a procession, and it has been built on exactly this kind of call rather than on backing the big two every week and hoping. For what it is worth, Philani also leads the MTN8 board on 9.

The midweek fixture underlined the other half of the skill. Mamelodi Sundowns beat Siwelele 3-0 and nobody among our players landed the exact score, though one did get the winner right. Picking Sundowns to win is easy. Picking how heavily they win, when they are on 19 points from seven with a goal difference of plus 12, is where the points actually live.

There is plenty to work with this weekend. Polokwane City host Kaizer Chiefs and Chippa United take on Sundowns on Saturday, with Milford against Richards Bay, Siwelele against Golden Arrows and TS Galaxy against Kruger United on Sunday. Orlando Pirates meet Durban City on Thursday night.

The lesson from Friday is worth carrying into those. Richards Bay have drawn four on the bounce and Golden Arrows are unbeaten without scoring. If you are chasing Philani, the stalemates are where the ground gets made up, not in guessing whether Sundowns win by two or three.