A second half brace by Robert Ng\u2019ambi ensured Platinum Stars bagged a point as they drew 2-2 against Mbabane Swallows in their final CAF Confederation Cup Group B match on Saturday at Moruleng Stadium in South Africa.<\/p>\n
The draw leaves Stars sitting at the bottom of the log table with three points from six matches, with three draws and as many losses.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, goals from Wonder Nhleko and Sabelo Ndzinisa allowed the Swazis to finish at No 3 with five points from two draws, one win and three losses.<\/p>\n
As early as the eighth minute, Swallows had their first shot when Nhleko unleashed a powerful volley which was saved by goalkeeper Steven Hoffman.<\/p>\n
Thabo Vilakati\u2019s men continued to push for an early goal as they were better in ball possession, but they were not decisive in the final third.<\/p>\n
However, the Swazi giants managed to break the deadlock through Nhleko in the 21st minute when his well struck free kick was deflected into the goal, 2-1.<\/p>\n
Dikwena tried to penetrate the Birds, but Milton Dlamini\u2019s charges were not clinical in front of goal.<\/p>\n
Despite enjoying ball possession towards the end of the opening half, Stars looked ordinary when going forward and were 1-0 down at halftime.<\/p>\n
Although Dikwena were expected to react and find an equaliser, there were no clear cut chances in the first 10 minutes of the second half.<\/p>\n
The South African side continued to pile on the pressure and Katlego Khunou saw his curling shot saved by Ginindza in the 58th minute.<\/p>\n
Against the run of play, Swallows made it 2-0 in the 69th minute with a powerful header through Ndzinisa after a cross from the left flank.<\/p>\n
Dikwena managed to pull a goal back when Ng\u2019ambi beat Ginindza on the near post after a dangerous set piece by skipper Vuyo Mere, 2-1.<\/p>\n
With eight minutes to go, Nale was denied by the woodwork as he tried to find an equaliser as he saw his well-drilled effort beat Ginindza, but it came off the upright.<\/p>\n
Stars showed resilience and continued to fight for an equaliser Ng\u2019ambi eventually made it 2-2 with a fine header from a corner, bringing the hosts back into the game.<\/p>\n
Despite their push to get a third goal, Stars exited the tournament with no victory next to their name, but managed to secure a point at home\u2014 Supersport <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A second half brace by Robert Ng\u2019ambi ensured Platinum Stars bagged a point as they drew 2-2 against Mbabane Swallows in their final CAF Confederation Cup Group B match on Saturday at Moruleng Stadium in South Africa. The draw leaves Stars sitting at the bottom of the log table with three points from six matches, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":49982,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49978","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\/49978","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=49978"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49978\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49983,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49978\/revisions\/49983"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49982"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}