Artists and Stars in thrilling draw

The MMK Administrators League match between United Artists and Matsika Shooting Stars, which was played at the Lufule grounds on Sunday, ended in a 1-1 draw.

The game was played under protest. United Artists lodged a protest with the referee during the half-time break. In their protest, United Artists alleged that a striker for Shooting Stars, Reagan Maluleke, was not properly registered with the team.

Stars could have sealed the game within the first 20 minutes, but their strikers were  unlucky. Their dribbling wizard, Reagan Maluleke, missed a fortune in the eighth minute. This after he had received a neat pass from Emmanuel Mungoni within the box. Instead of relaxing on the ball and trying other possible ways, Maluleke chose to shoot aimlessly.

That was a wake-up call to Artists. They regrouped from behind and took the game to the visitors. The home side took the lead after 24 minutes of play. Mashudu Siobo headed home, following a square pass from Thinandavha Mahase. Stars replaced Emmanuel Mungoni with Lawrence Simba two minutes later.

Shooting Stars found the equalizer in the 37^th minute. Reagan Maluleke forced his way through the defence of Artists and blasted in a rocket from inside the box. Things turned against Stars when they were reduced to 10 men in the 56^th minute. Mihleketo Makhubele was given his marching orders for protesting against the referee’s decision. Artists introduced Vuwani Masakona for Samuel Mathebula moments later. Masakona was warned with a card for dangerous play three minutes after his introduction.

Artists missed a penalty after in the 76^th minute when Vuwani Masakona shot wide from the white spot. Stars suffered more misfortune when another player, Xikombiso Machebele, saw red in the 78^th minute, following a late tackle on Robert Baloyi. The game came to a halt for six minutes as the players of Stars were arguing with the referee over his decision to send Machebele off.

Shooting Stars managed to defend their point up to the bitter end, despite all the odds.

Date:13 January 2017

By: Frank Mavhungu

Frank is a Human Resources Manager at the Department of Public Works in Limpopo. He is the longest serving correspondent of the Mirror, having joined us at the end of 1990.  He mainly writes sports reports and resides at Tsianda Village. In 2004, Frank won the National Castle League Award, an award for the best reporter in the SAB league in South Africa.

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