Battle of the Stars ends in draw |
|||||||||
Platinum Stars and Free State Stars played to a 1-1 draw in their Absa Premiership match at Moruleng stadium on Wednesday night. The home side started like a house on fire with Benson Shilongo unleashing powerful long range shot in the third minute which shaved the wrong side of the post. In the tenth minute, Platinum Stars took the lead when Henrico Botes headed home an inch perfect cross from Gerald Phiri, 1-0. Free State, though, were not to be behind for long with Nhlanhla Vilakazi finding the equaliser eight minutes later courtesy of a neat curling shot from just outside the box, 1-1. Vuyo Mere nearly gave Dikwena the lead for the second time when he fired a thunderbolt goalwards in the 21st minute, but his effort was superbly tipped over the crossbar by goalkeeper Thela Ngobeni. On the half hour mark Ngobeni was at his best yet again, this time diving low to his left to deny Ryan De Jongh from the edge of the box. Neither side could add to the score before half time as the teams entered the tunnel locked at 1-1. The second half started a little slowly with both sides struggling to retain ball possession. The first decent effort on goal in the second stanza came on the hour mark when a long range shot from Benson Shilongo went narrowly wide of the Free State goal. Dikwena were on the attack again ten minutes later, this time Solomon Mathe with a potent shot from outside the box but his effort also went wide. Free State failed to offer much in attack in the second half, but did come close to stealing the win nine minutes from time when Moeketsi Sekola found himself in space on the edge of the box, but his shot went wide. Neither side could find the winner in the dying minutes of the game and it ended 1-1. Platinum Stars (1) 1 (Botes 10’) Platinum Stars: Mzimela, Mlilo, Mnguni, Mkhabela, De Jongh, Mere, Mathe, Links (Msomi 56’), Phiri (Nale 76’), Botes, Shilongo (Mabena 62’). Free State Stars: Ngobeni, Masehe, Teyise, Tlhone, Dlamini, Mbhele, Vilakazi, Makhaula, Maphakisa (Sekotlong 74’), Jantjie (Mashego 67’), Sekola. This article was sourced from the PSL website. |
|||||||||
