DURBAN – Danny Venter scored the only goal as struggling Free State Stars won for the first time under coach Serame Letsoaka when they claimed a valuable 1-0 victory over Golden Arrows at the Princess Magogo Stadium in KwaMashu on Saturday.
The midfielder struck after 26 minutes following a goalkeeping error by Nkosingphile Gumede as Ea La Koto steered clear from the relegation zone.
Letsoaka, who took over last month, saw his side climb from 14th to 12. Arrows’ indifferent form continued as they remain with one win in their last eight matches.
The hosts began well during the first part of the game, before fading away as time ticked over. They had the first chance after 10 minutes when Knox Mutizwa, a scorer on debut last weekend, flashed a shot across the face of goal from the left byline.
Kudakwashe Mahachi then had a shot that was fired straight at Christoffer Mafoumbi, before the Stars goalkeeper made a telling intervention on 19 minutes to keep the scores level.
Mutizwa played a fine ball from the left through to Vuyani Ntanga in the box, but Mafoumbi showed superb anticipation to save the midfielder’s low shot.
Midway through the half, Katlego Mashego’s strike from 25 yards out whistled past the right upright as Ea Lla Koto started to find their footing in the game.
They took the lead when sheer power from Venter on a free kick saw him blast the ball past Gumede – the set-piece coming after some lax defending by Limbikani Mzava, which forced the goalkeeper to handle outside the box under pressure from Tebogo Potsane.
It remained 1-0 at the break and after the restart, it was mainly Stars.
They almost doubled their lead in the 55th minute when Mohammed Anas was denied brilliantly by a one-handed Gumede stop after the ball was floated over from the right by Nhlanhla Vilakazi.
Mashego then fired a first-time shot from a clearance just wide of a diving Gumede as the ball went to the left, before Moeketsi Sekola struck the crossbar with almost no one to beat after an inviting cross from the right.
With eight minutes to play Sekola should have buried the game, but instead delayed his shot from a brilliant Sinethemba Jantie through-ball as Gumede gathered.
It was not a costly miss, though, as the visitors held on for a priceless win.