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Cape Town - Platinum Stars suffered a second successive Absa Premiership defeat as they fell 1-0 at the hands of Polokwane City at the Old Peter Mokaba Stadium on Saturday.
The result sees Dikwena fall eight points behind league leaders Bidvest Wits (who beat Golden Arrows 3-2 at home), while Rise and Shine move into mid-table after claiming a second straight victory.
Polokwane started the brighter of the two sides and opened the scoring just nine minutes into the match, with Sphesihle Nzimande converting from Jabu Maluleke’s assist to make it 1-0 to the hosts.
Nzimande was very lively in the opening quarter of the match, having a few more efforts which threatened to add to Rise and Shine’s advantage but failed to find the target.
Stars managed sporadic attacks in the opening half hour, but on 27 minutes they came close to restoring parity when Bongi Ntuli fired a fine effort on goal, only for Polokwane goalkeeper George Chigova to make an excellent save.
The away side gradually began to assert themselves as the half wore on and Robert Ng'ambi headed just over the crossbar from Tintswalo Tshabalala’s cross a couple of minutes before the half time break.
Stars made a change at the start of the second, sending on Tlou Segolela in place of Sibusiso Hadebe, while just past the hour mark they threw on Eleazar Rodgers in place of Letladi Madubanya in an effort to further boost their attack.
However, it was Polokwane who almost found a second goal in the 66th minute when a corner kick saw Sibusiso Mbonani presented with a shooting chance, but his effort was tipped over the crossbar by Mbongeni Mzimela.
Both teams created scoring opportunities in what remained of the match, but they were unable to find the back of the net leaving the game to end 1-0 in favour of Rise and Shine.
The victory takes City to 12 points from 11 matches and propels them into ninth position on the log. Dikwena, meanwhile, remain in fourth place on 18 points from 10 matches.
