29 January 2019 – Musina All Stars entered Sunday afternoon as Vhembe SAB League Stream H leaders but were met with some adversity when they visited defending champions Berea.
Berea gave the undefeated All Stars their first loss of the season, edging All Stars 1-0 at Berea Resort Ground in Zwigodini.
The loss dropped All Stars to second in the league table and gave the league a new leader in Bale United who thumped Igwe 4-0 on the same day.
The game’s only goal of the afternoon came with 10 minutes into the second half as Elias Ranyaoa took a through ball on the right-flank and danced his way past All Stars’ fullback, Tshepang Muleya before calmly finishing with a low shot past All Stars’ goalkeeper Tshifhiwa Mutavhatsindi in a one-on-one situation.
The loss definitely wasn’t what All Stars wanted, but their head coach Thomani Ndou said it might be something his squad needed.
“It’s hard to go undefeated,” Ndou said. “I mean, even the best teams around the world, you can’t just go undefeated. I tell the players that we have to go through both sides of the coin. You have to learn how to win and you have to learn how to lose. It’s good. Losing teaches us something. In winning you don’t learn anything you just play the game. But when you lose you learn what you need to do better.”
All Stars were coming off a nail-biting 2-2 away draw to Masisi Young Stars, with the Musina-based club which is on its second season in the SAB League squandering a two-goal halftime lead to allow the hosts to snatch a point.
Next up for Berea is a trip to Musina on Saturday, 2 February to face Igwe whilst All Stars will be returning to Zwigodini to face fellow title contenders Annel Real Vikings who are level on 23 points with their visitors.