Barberton City Stars shine bright for All Stars

Barberton City Stars tasted victory over eMzinoni All Stars when they crushed the Bethal side 3-1 at the Barberton Prison Sportsground on Saturday, keeping their Mpumalanga ABC Motsepe League title hopes alive.

The score was 1-all at half-time. But it was sweet revenge for Ingucungucu – as Barberton are affectionately known in football circles – which lost 2-0 to eMzinoni in the preliminary round of the Nedbank Cup.

Both teams played with intent throughout the game and when Barberton attacked, eMzinoni immediately responded with equal force.

Barberton were off the block as early as the ninth minute when Sipho “Shaka Zulu” Sukazi bundled home from a close range as eMzinoni struggled to clear their lines. Just before the break, the visitors equalised via Nkosinathi Khumalo, who beat Barberton keeper Sikhumbuzo Magagula hands down.

In al honesty, it was eMzinoni keeper Bhashin Mposula, who stood like a rock, denying Barberton a lead heading into the recess. Mposula produced several brilliant saves in the first stanza to deny the local side. But in the second half, the agile goalminder and his mates were nowhere near their best as they gave away possession far too often, allowing Barberton to boss the tempo of the play.

After the interval, Barberton were rewarded with a goal courtesy of Rammidi “Charley” Malopo in the 65th minute when he headed home a corner kick from Sibusiso ‘Tito” Manzini. Six minutes later, Manzini made it 3-1 when he tapped in a loose ball in the box beating Mposula.

Ingucungucu dominated the proceeding thereafter, but they struggled to find that fourth goal. Player assistant coach, Lassy Ramole should have scored for the local side when he was put through by the strongly built Malopo, but he was denied in a one-on-one with the keeper.

Barberton coach, Jones “Mr Phil” Dhlamini said he was impressed with his boys’ response following losing 0-2 to eMzinoni in the Nedbank Cup. “We learnt something from that game and today we came here to rectify our mistakes. The win put us on course to compete for the championship this season,” said Dhlamini.

Meanwhile, Barberton visited Easthigh Academy at Ingwenyama Conference & Sports Resort Grounds on Sunday. The game kicked off at 18:00.

This coming Saturday, they will host log leaders Mbombela United at the prison ground at 15:00: This will be their last game of the year before the Christmas recess. They will resume the league on January 17 against Elukwatini Junior Aces at Elukwatini Stadium.