An exquisite game awaits Alex this weekend
United Stars coach Sakhile Zulu concedes to fears the Amaskills match may turn out to be more difficult than the LRC game.
Table-topping United Stars has a tough assignment against second-placed Amaskills FC as the promotional league winds up the first round.
Stars take on Amaskills at the Alexandra Stadium this Saturday (March 16) after playing 14 games, winning 12 and losing none to amass a whopping 38 points compared to 31 points for Amaskills.
The two close rival bulls in the ANLFA League kraal will lock horns and who knows what will happen but only after the 90 minutes of play will we know which bull will be the boss of the kraal.
If Amaskills dim the Stars, they will only have bragging rights of being the first team to inflict defeat on the high-riding River Park side, which many are equating to the all-conquering Mamelodi Sundowns in the DStv Premiership.
But there is one person who needs to work even harder on the day, and that is Stars’ deadly goal poacher Njabulo Shabalala. Shabalala is the league’s leading goal scorer with 18 goals to his credit while his nearest rival from Alex Arsenal City FC has 17.
Stars coach Sakhile Zulu admitted that both the team and Shabalala will have to pull up their socks and produce an exquisite performance on the day if the side wants to keep its unbeaten record intact as it enters the second round of the marathon 16-team league, and Shabalala opening up a safe gap over his rival.
“Njabulo may be our leading marksman but he is a team player at the same time. When he is in a good scoring opportunity, he will strike it himself but when a teammate is in a much better position than him, he always supplies,” Zulu said.
“I have worked on him and he’s back on form and will soon be banging in those goals again. What delights me the most is that anyone can score in the team and we don’t rely only on one person but I fear that Amaskills play a perennial attacking game and we should not slip up.”
LRC, which had been considered a potential contender for honours as the team had occupied the second spot for a while, has been shoved down to 8th position with Black Mask FC in third, Gauteng FC in 4th, Alex Royal Tigers in 5th, Loyo Stars in 6th and Laz FC completing the Top 8 in 7th.
