A LOT has been read into the 3-0 defeat that log leaders African Stars suffered at the hands of Black Africa last week.

However, Stars could still atone for last week’s embarrassment when they play guest in Tsumeb to Chief Santos this Saturday.
Second placed Cymot SKW are favourites to amass all three points against Ramblers and maintain the four point gap on Stars. Civics will be happy with a draw in Walvis Bay as the result will propel them into third place being favorites over Oshakati City in Windhoek.  
Most pundits believe the second half of the season is the period in which men are separated from boys. But it could be too late for all teams except Stars because most of them will need to fight for second position before they can challenge for the league honours.
SKW, Eleven Arrows, Civics, Orlando Pirates and Black Africa have created their own league, the winner of which will begin to cause serious consequences for Stars.
African Stars are still the team to beat this season - read little into last week’s defeat against Black Africa, their failure to beat them comes long before their stars began to shine.
In the first leg of last season, the two teams blamed referee Mathew Katjimune for being drunk and the match was postponed to May.
Come May 30 2008, a ten man Black Africa drew 1-1 with Stars, despite having played 60 minutes one man short and only conceding the equaliser three minutes from time thanks to Ikuaterua Tjozongoro’s goal. Reinholdt Shikongo was the referee and 700 fans were recorded.
In the second leg the teams played to a 2-2 draw.
Last week, 7000 fans came with Shikongo again the man in the centre, only this time Stars were the victims, ironically falling one man down with 60 minutes left of play. Again this season, the two teams played to a 1-1 draw, the only draw on Stars record before BA handed them their first defeat in style. But this was not Stars’ first defeat to BA this year; in the FNB Cup semi-finals in January, Black Africa beat Stars 1-0, completing their hatrick of fending off Stars this season. In all these instances, Jerome Louis was on target.