Johannesburg (AFP) – Bidvest Wits rose two places to second in the South African Premiership Friday after a late brace by Zimbabwean Terrence Dzvukamanja brought a thrilling 4-2 win at Bloemfontein Celtic.  

After leading and trailing, eighth-place Celtic thought they had secured a point when Tshegofatso Mabasa equalised four minutes from time.

But Dzvukamanja had other ideas, putting Wits ahead for the second time on 88 minutes and assuring the Johannesburg club of victory with a stoppage-time goal.

Victory was a timely boost for Wits after a string of poor results cost them top spot in the most exciting title race for many seasons.

Tebogo Potsane gave Celtic a third-minute lead that Malawian Gabadinho Mhango cancelled after half-time and Gift Motupa put Wits in front for the first time with 20 minutes remaining.

Trophy-holders Mamelodi Sundowns, who are in Morocco this weekend for a CAF Champions League group game, top the table on 43 points with six rounds remaining.

Then come Wits (41 points), Orlando Pirates and Cape Town City (40 each), SuperSport United (39), Polokwane City (37) and Kaizer Chiefs (36).

Sundowns have been champions a record eight times, Chiefs and Pirates four times each, SuperSport on three occasions and Wits once.

Cinderella clubs Cape Town and Polokwane are chasing first titles in the richest African league with a 10 million rand ($695,000/615,000 euros) first prize.    

In other top-half clashes, SuperSport and Chiefs drew 1-1 in Nelspruit and Cape Town were held 0-0 at home by Polokwane. 

A late-season surge by SuperSport has brought them into contention and they led Chiefs within two minutes of the kick-off when Darren Smith scored.

Zimbabwe star Khama Billiat levelled on 14 minutes for Chiefs, the most successful club in South Africa but without a trophy since 2015.  

“Neither team deserved to win,” admitted SuperSport coach and former Zimbabwe international Kaitano Tembo. “We wasted chances and so did Chiefs. 

“I thought Chiefs had the edge during the first half, but we reorganised the defence at half-time and stemmed the flow toward our goal.”

Polokwane continue to impress under Slovak coach Jozef Vukusic, who took charge at the start of the season and has worked wonders with a star-less squad.

They succeeded where Sundowns failed recently by containing a Cape Town attack that seldom completes a match without scoring.