26 Mar 2017

First half goals from Sipho Senne and Benson Shilongo gave South African football side Platinum Stars a 2-1 victory over Township Rollers in a headline HeForShe campaign game played at the National Stadium Saturday night.
Senegalese marksman Pape Abdoulaye Ndaw gave Rollers a reprieve with his solitary strike in the second half, but Popa were made to rue their first half mistakes of letting in two avoidable goals.
Both sets of players trotted into the pitch holding placards that read ‘gender parity is my responsibility’ with the two captains reading out the message promoting the theme.
Any match between a domestic crowd puller and any South African premier soccer league (PSL) side is always bound to be thrilling, and although both missed a few regulars, the game lived up to the billing.
Rollers started the game displaying nice touches on the ball and getting the crowd involved as Terrance Mandaza seemed eager to make the visiting defence work hard as early as possible.
In the 14th minute, the Zimbabwean forward had a great shot from outside the box trickily saved by Dikwena goalkeeper Mwenya Chibwe.
However, Stars, who always had about three men over the halfway line even when Rollers attacked were quicker than the Blues on transition play, able to seamlessly turn defence into attack.
In the 20th minute, Rollers midfielder Ntesang ‘Mirror’ Simanyana was dispossessed by his opponents who located Sipho Senne who then got on the end of the quick transition move by Stars, scoring from close range to make it 1-0 to Stars.
Thato Bolweleng, who forced a save from range and Segolame Boy, whose shot from the box forced a corner kick came close for Popa, but Dikwena would rattle the net once again through former Gaborone United striker Benson Shilongo to make it 2-0 in the 38th minute.
The game went into break with Stars leading with the same margin.
On the hour mark, Rollers coach Mogomotsi ‘Teenage’ Mpote brought in Ndaw for Joel Mogorosi, and, having worked hard in the first half, some may have been worried by Mogorosi’s substitution.
However, he was vindicated as within four minutes, his gangly West African replacement made his mark by scoring on the turn to make it 2-1 in the 64th minute after receiving a ball in the 18-yard box.
He set up an entertaining last 26 minutes and on the 67th minute, Mpote brought in Gofaone Tiro and Edwin Moalosi at the same time for Simanyana and Motsholetsi Sikele.
Moalosi looked particularly good on the ball, but Rollers lacked enough bite in the final third as youngster Ocean ‘De Maria’ Lottering also got a run in after coming in for Segolame Boy in the 87th minute, but Dikwena had done enough to return to Phokeng victorious. ENDS