No solace for Ng’ambi, Phiri’s Stars

Malawi football exports Robert Ng’ambi and Gerald Phiri Jnr’s Platinum Stars have not only lost the South Africa Premier League (PSL) survival battle but they have done it without a single win in four promotion/relegation play-off tournament matches.

This was confirmed on Saturday after the side suffered a 1-2 defeat to Jomo Cosmos in their final play-offs encounters.

Stars, who avoided automatic relegation to the National First Division (NFD) were handed a lifeline after Ajax Cape Town lost the arbitration case on the eligibility of Tendai Ndoro. But they have finished the play-offs at the bottom of the three-team table with two points after losing two matches and having the same number of draws.

Black Leopards won the promotion battle after topping the table with eight points from two wins and two draws while Cosmos finished as runners-up with five points following a win, two draws and a loss.

According to www.kickoff.com, senior players such as Ng’ambi were not considered in the Stars’ latest defeat as “Dikwena fielded a number of untried youngsters” while Phiri Jnr was on the substitutes’ bench.

The website said Cosmos drew the first blood through Lefa Hlongwane in the 11th minute before Letsie Koapeng restored parity for Stars in the 46th minute. However, it was Teboho Tlolane strike in extra time that separated the two.

Ng’ambi and Phiri Jnr were not available for comment yesterday. n