Stars ready to shine brightly

It was Ingucungucu’s second win in the
new season after they walloped Premier Soccer League feeder team, Amazayoni FC
2-1 at Lynville Stadium in their opening game on November 9.
Stars’
impressive unbeaten start to the campaign have brought hope to fans that they
are once again up for the challenge and a force to be reckoned with this
season.
The once feared local team have had an impressive start to the
campaign as they seek to rebuild themselvesafter a dismal 10th place finish last
season.
Coming to Saturday’s game, Stars’ morale might have been a bit low
after having been bundled out of the Nedbank Cup preliminary round by Mbombela
United, who beat them 2-0. They were the first to score through Bafana Maphanga
but the visitors equalised via Simon Dludlu to take the game into interval
locked 1-1.
It looked as if the game was going into full-time tied 1-all
until Stars’ striker Samukeliso Maphanga produced a thunderous shot in the 88th
minutes that left Kwazi keeper Andrew Mbokane dumbfounded.
Despite the
victory, Stars’ display was not convincing on the day. And coach Aaron “Squash”
Shongwe, who replaced last season’s mentor, Phil “Mr Jones” Dlamini, still has a
lot of work to do. To win the league is a daunting task and a team needs to play
very well as a collective and have great experience right through its spine.

This coming Saturday, Stars will visit Secunda Stars at Embalenhle Stadium.
Then on December 7, they will be at home where they will host God’s Chosen. Both
matches will kick off at 15:00.
These are perhaps the games that will tell us
whether the local side have overcome their troubles of the past few
seasons.
Shongwe said he believed the team was ready to conquer Mpumalanga.
“Today (Saturday) we were a little bit sluggish. Five of our regular players
were not available through suspensions and injuries. And the win shows the depth
we have because we managed to collect all the points,” said Shongwe.