The UP-Tuks football team is still in the run to qualify for the Varsity Tournament semi-finals after playing to a 1-1 draw against Northwest University last night in Mafefking.

The former champions will, however, have to be at there best in their three remaining pool games. As things stand, UP-Tuks is still second last on the log with four points after four games. 

But what makes this tournament exciting is that it is genuinely tightly contested. Last year's champions, TUT, is the only team that has been consistently being competitive winning three of their four games. UKZN, however, proved last night that TUT is not invincible forcing them to a 1-1 draw. UKZN is bottom of the log. 

The UP-Tuks goalkeeper, Giovanni Idi, described last night's encounter against Northwest as a thrilling contest.

"Anyone who watched the game could see it was a dogfight. Even though we were the first to score Northwest kept coming at us which made it a hectic match to play. I think every player loved it as it forced us to step up. We were unfortunate to concede a goal in one mere moment of lapsed concentration.  

"Overall, I think we can't be faulted for how we played, but we do realise that there is still room for improvement which means the next three weeks is going to be all about trying to marginalise our mistakes and to make the most of the scoring opportunities," explained Idi.

Katlego Motlhatsang, who was UP-Tuks's stand-in captain views last night's result as a positive outcome. 

"To come away with one point playing in Mafeking against Northwest is, in my opinion, a good result. The one thing that remains disconcerting is that we still keep on squandering scoring opportunities. 

"It is something that we urgently need to rectify as I think in the end everything might boil down to goal differences when it comes to qualifying for the semi-finals."

UP-Tuks has so far only managed to score three goals in four games while conceding seven.

Lebohang Montueli scored for UP-Tuks against Northwest. 

Next Thursday UP-Tuks are playing CUT at home. It could be a tough encounter as the Free Staters are currently third on the log with two wins from four games.