Flames exciting midfielder Gerald Phiri Jnr opened his South Africa Absa Premier Soccer League (PSL) scoring account in style, bagging a brace as Platinum Stars swept aside Bloemfontein Celtic 3-0 at Dr Molemela Stadium on Saturday.<\/p>\n
The former Be Forward Wanderers and Caps United winger converted two freekicks inside the opening 10 minutes of the game to leave countryman John Maduka, who is Celtic\u2019s co-coach, in trouble.<\/p>\n
Play was stopped in stoppage time as home fans pelted objects onto the pitch after what was Celtic\u2019s third defeat in four games.<\/p>\n
Phiri, who is among Flames\u2019 key players in the forthcoming assignment, was eventually named man of the match for the first time since moving to the PSL.<\/p>\n
Understandably, the 23-year-old was delighted with his fourth consecutive start for the Stars.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am settling well and my team mates have been supporting me all the time. It was a good game for me but also for the team to grab three points. I am really excited and looking forward to the next match,\u201d Phiri said in a telephone interview.<\/p>\n
In a match report, South Africa\u2019s Soccer Laduma <\/em>magazine praised Phiri for his wonder goals.<\/p>\n \u201cDikwena [Stars] broke the deadlock after seven minutes as Gerald Phiri scored his first Absa Premiership goal with a superb free-kick. Stars doubled their lead two minutes later as Phiri grabbed his second with another fine free-kick,\u201d Soccer Laduma added.<\/p>\n His compatriot Robert Ng\u2019ambi was also in fine form for Stars as he provided an assist for Bongi Ntuli\u2019s third goal.<\/p>\n However, Phiri\u2019s compatriot Atusaye Nyondo did not feature for Celtic.<\/p>\n In a separate interview, Phiri\u2019s Manager, Paul Mitchel praised his client for adapting to the demands of the PSL.<\/p>\n Stars have moved up to position 11 whereas Celtic are 13th four points above the drop zone.<\/p>\n Phiri is on loan from Bidvest Wits having spent last season on the sidelines due to work permit hitches.<\/p>\n Elsewhere in the PSL, Gabadihno Mhango\u2019s Bidvest Wits lost 2-0 to Mamelodi Sundowns. Golden Arrows of Limbikani Mzava drew 1-1 against Chippa United on Friday night.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Flames exciting midfielder Gerald Phiri Jnr opened his South Africa Absa Premier Soccer League (PSL) scoring account in style, bagging a brace as Platinum Stars swept aside Bloemfontein Celtic 3-0 at Dr Molemela Stadium on Saturday. The former Be Forward Wanderers and Caps United winger converted two freekicks inside the opening 10 minutes of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":41451,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41450","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41450","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41450"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41450\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41452,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41450\/revisions\/41452"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}