Gordon Igesund collected his first win as the coach of Free State Stars since landing the job last month when his side beat Lamontville Golden Arrows 1-0 at the Chatsworth Stadium on Wednesday afternoon.
The game’s only goal came in the 33rd minute when Kingston Nkhatha unleashed a thunderous free kick from about 30 metres out, which beat Thulasizwe Khuzwayo in the Arrows goal all ends up.
The visitors should have hit the front in the first move of the match when their striker Tebelo Mofokeng pulled clear of the Arrows defence, only to hit the upright with his low strike.
Stars’ tactics to suppress Arrows’ normal free-flowing game worked well throughout the ninety minutes of play. As a result, the
home team were not able to fashion many goal scoring opportunities.
Arrows’ first attempt on goal came when Martin Carelse cleared a Richard Henyekane shot off the goal line, three minutes before the interval.
Stars continued to dominate proceedings in the second half and came close to adding to their tally of goals midway through the half via Duncan Lechesa’s shot from distance and a close range header from Mofokeng which narrowly flew wide.
With time running out, Arrows got their next sniff at goals in the 85th minute. However, Thanduyise Khuboni failed to hit the target when he had only Zambian keeper Kennedy Mweene to beat.
Tshepo Mashego almost burgled a point for the home side when his rasping shot grazed the Stars crossbar, deep into stoppage time.
In other Premiership matches on Wednesday, Ajax Cape Town laboured to a goalless draw against AmaZulu, Mpumalanga Black Aces drew 1-1 with Orlando Pirates, Maritzburg United beat Bloemfontein Celtic 2-0 and SuperSport United extended their lead at the top of the table to seven points with a 3-0 thrashing of Moroka Swallows. — Sapa