Seven Stars suffer defeat in rough match

In a match of great intensity, cursing and a referee being manhandled, Seven Stars lost a home game 2-1 against Matta Milan at the Dumpy Adams on Saturday.

Matta Milan officials were seen swearing at and physically touching an official in an aggressive manner.

The game started with both teams making clear statements of their intent to win.*

Seven Stars wanted to add the maximum points to their tally as they are at the bottom of the ABC Motsepe League.

Matta Milan, meanwhile, is fighting to stay in the top two.

A Seven Stars defence mistake led to Yongama Ngqazi netting the first goal for the visiting side early in the second half.

Both teams went to the break without finding the back on the net.

Seven Stars got a chance to equalise when a Matta Milan player handled the ball inside the 18-yard mark and the ref pointed to the penalty spot.

The penalty caused the first commotion of the game but it was saved.

Another opportunity to level the score for Seven Stars came and when their striker, Yanga Maxwane, netted the equalising goal, Matta Milan started swearing at match officials.

Another defence mistake by Seven Stars – tackling a player inside the 18-yard area, resulted in them losing the game as Mthokozisi Dlamini scored from the penalty to secure maximum points for his side.

Archie Dywili, Seven Stars coach, said the full team had not trained together for almost three weeks.

“I have been training individuals here. Two, three or four players will come to training so if you play like that and play a team that is above you, it’s not going to be easy,” he said. However, he applauded his players for putting up a fight.

“Today’s game should have at least been a draw. Players played very well in the first half.

“They hit and carried out the instructions the way we agreed.

“In the second half, I don’t know what changed, especially defensively. We started doing unnecessary things and playing wrong passes,” Dywili said.

“I told them to not allow them to cross the ball inside the box and we were punished for allowing that.” Matta Milan coach Msingathi Makhalima said: “The game was right and Seven Stars played well. Our approach was to win the game in the first half but we couldn’t score. We got an early goal in the second half and from there we wanted to maintain position.

“They scored and we managed to score another goal to secure the win.”

Makhalima said his side had two more games and wanted this win to keep their No 2 spot.