Shilongo nets a brace

Shilongo nets a braceShilongo nets a brace The two Namibian strikers at the South African Platinum Stars, Benson Shilongo and Henrico Botes, have had a good week. Namibian Benson Shilongo''s two goals were not enough to award his South African side Platinum Stars victory on Saturday, as Polokwane City (Dikwena) edged them out 3-2 in an Absa Premiership game at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium.

The win takes Rise and Shine to fourth spot on the league standings, while struggling Dikwena remain 13th on the table.

The home side began the match brightly with Robert Ng''ambi and Bonginkosi Ntuli both missing the target in the opening stages of the game.

But Sipho Jembula fired Polokwane into the lead with a right-footed finish in the 12th minute as the visitors punished the Dikwena defence.

Former Golden Arrows striker Ntuli''s attempt narrowly missed the target 16 minutes later, as Stars struggled to penetrate the Polokwane defence.

Dikwena had a chance to equalise in the 38th minute, but Solomon Mathe''s header flew over the crossbar without troubling Rise and Shine goalkeeper George Chigova.

Mathe then netted an unfortunate own-goal as he headed Jabulani Maluleke''s free-kick into the back of the net five minutes later as Polokwane headed into the tunnel at the break with a 2-0 lead.

Things went from bad to worse for Dikwena eight minutes into the second half as Rodney Ramagalela scored to make it 3-0 to the visitors.

Dikwena then took control of the match as they pressed Rise and Shine, while searching for goals in order to restore parity.

Benson Shilongo did pull one back for the home side in the 71st minute with a powerful right-footed shot, which beat Polokwane goalkeeper Chigova hands down.

The momentum was now with Stars and three minutes later, Namibia international Shilongo made it 3-2 with a decent header.

Stars launched late attacks in search of the equalising goal, but Polokwane held on to their slender lead as they emerged 3-2 winners.

Meanwhile, veteran striker Henrico Botes finally laboured to 50 goals in domestic football with his half-century coming a decade since he arrived in the Absa Premiership from his native Namibia.

Botes scored a consolation penalty last night in Platinum Stars'' 3-1 defeat to Free State Stars at Goble Park Stadium last week.

Though a return of 50-goals in 195 starts since he started playing in the PSL in 2005 might easily be dismissed as a low return but the Platinum Stars forward remains striker that coaches always believe in due to his functionality.

He is now only the 15th player contracted to a PSL club at the moment to have surpassed the half century mark which demonstrates just the lack of consistent scorers in this league.

Collins Mbesuma is the only player who has gone past the 100-goals mark of the players currently playing top flight football.

Botes who turns 37 this month has been involved in all of Dikwena''s games since returning to the club at the beginning of this season starting nine and coming on as a substitute in three. Last night''s goal was his first of the season.

The Namibian-born has also played for both Moroka Swallows and Bidvest.

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