Norwood Stars come from behind to win Alex trophy
ALEXANDRA - Norwood Young Stars showed their football pedigree when they came from behind and rammed their way to the championship of an Alex soccer tournament.
Norwood Young Stars showed their football pedigree when they came from behind to beat DRA Peacemakers Football Club 2-1 in the Alexandra Northrand Local Football Association’s Year End Tournament.
In one of the most fiercely contested matches of the tournament, Stars and DRA made no peace on the pitch in a dilapidated Alexandra Stadium on 12 December.
DRA were the first to draw blood when a Stars player handled the ball in the box for a penalty. DRA’s Nathi ‘Stawothi’ Zuma made no mistake with the conversion. DRA went into the break with a 1-0 lead.
In the second half, the never-say-die attitude of the Stars outfit, which is entirely composed of players from West African countries who are resident in Johannesburg, was rewarded when super-sub Ugochukwu Akaijaku scored with his first touch to level the score at 1-1.
It was game on then, in a match that was not short of drama either. The DRA keeper was red-carded when he came off his line and fouled Stars danger man in the box, the ever-menacing Osi Miniru, when he was sure to put his team in the lead.
Stars’ Shadrack Opare scored the resultant penalty to secure the win which sent the team’s bench into a frenzy.
The winning players lifted their coach Valentine Eze high above their heads, and their club president, Venita Masisi.
