Stars on the warpath

Platinum Stars set a new club record when they beat University of Pretoria 1-0 on Wednesday night.

It is the first time in the team's history that they have been unbeaten in their opening five PSL fixtures.

The run extends to seven matches when you include their victories over Free State Stars and Wits in the MTN8 competition.

That will be tested with a trip to last season's double-winners Kaizer Chiefs tomorrow night, but Stars coach Allan Freese believes they will keep their run going.

"As a unit the team has done very well this year.

"We believe in teamwork and the players work very hard for each other," Freese said.

"It is important to have everybody pulling in the same direction and I am pleased with how we have gone in our first seven games.

"Wednesday's win was OK. We played well in the first half especially, though I thought we should have got more goals."

The win took Stars to fourth in the table, just a point behind the leaders, and one in front of seventh-placed Chiefs.

Freese feels all the pressure will be on AmaKhosi to get a result.

"They are coming off a draw [against Bloemfontein Celtic] and are playing at home, so they will feel they need to win.

"We won't change our attitude or the way we play at all. Our approach will be the same, to play good football and score goals."

The clash between Mamelodi Sundowns and Wits, two of the country's most expensively assembled squads, not only pits two genuine title contenders against each other, but also two of South Africa's top coaches.

The match tomorrow at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria will see Pitso Mosimane go up against Gavin Hunt.

The two men are reputed to be the highest-paid coaches in South African football, earning more than any of the other 14 Premier Soccer League coaches - and even Bafana Bafana manager Gordon Igesund.

Both had long playing careers before going into coaching, a career move that proved deeply beneficial to both men .

Mosimane went on to coach the national team.

Hunt won a record-breaking three successive league titles after taking over from Mosimane as coach of Supersport United.

Their previous encounters as opposing coaches have been largely one-sided, however.

Hunt has won six of their 12 meetings and Mosimane only one. They have shared five draws.

Mosimane's sole win came after nine games, when Katlego Mphela scored the only goal for Supersport against Moroka Swallows in January 2007.

Ironically, Mphela and two other players - Teko Modise and Katlego Mashego - from that winning side are again at Mosimane's disposal some six years later.

The last meeting between the coaches came in March when Mor Diouf scored from the halfway line to secure a 1-0 Supersport victory over Sundowns.