Orlando Pirates are 12 points behind leaders Mamelodi Sundowns in the Betway Premiership, but Bucs defender Innocent Maela has insisted it’s not over yet.

If Pirates win their remaining seven matches, they’ll reach 67 points, but Sundowns are in the driving seat, and if they win their five matches, they get to 73 points.

The Buccaneers cannot afford another slip-up after their 1-0 defeat to Sekhukhune United in midweek.

Pirates face sworn enemies Kaizer Chiefs at FNB Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

“I don’t believe the league is gone,” stated Maela. “I don’t think the guys also believe that. I think as long as we have a chance to go out there, we never give up.”

Sundowns have won the league seven times in a row and reduced the league to what has been dubbed the “Pretoria Soccer League,” and unless Pirates can dig deep to end Sundowns’s dominance, the latter will make it eight titles in a row.

“It was an absolute setback for us not to get the three points (against Sekhukhune)… But it’s far from being over.”