GIYANI – Winnerspark Football Club will not participate in the next stages of the prestigious Absa Cup KO Competition. They were booted from the competition by Highlandspark Silver Stars, or formerly known as Tycoon Silver Stars, following their 0-2 defeat at the Giyani Stadium on Sunday.

Although they are campaigning in the lower division, Winnerspark did not show any sign of respect to their elder brothers. They matched them pound for pound in all departments but lacked proper experience in the goal finish. The bulldozer striker for Winnerspark, Collins "Mwaruwaru" Chabalala continued to give the Silver Stars defence a headache despite the fact that he was marked by two men. Chabalala soon realised that it was not his day when he missed a sitter after receiving a beautiful pass from Solomon Sithole ten minutes into this tough game. December Ngobeni of Silver Stars hesitated for too long to unleash the ball before he was dispossessed.

Tshilidzi Doboro opened the Silver Stars' account in the 15th minute. Seila Tshabalala forced his way through the defence of Winnerspark and instead of trying his luck he decided to pass the ball to Doboro who was in a perfect scoring position.

Winnerspark squandered a number of chances in quick succession. Silver Stars were awarded a penalty in the 35th minute. Daniel Moriri was tripped within the box and the referee, Sipho Masondo pointed to the spot. Moriri made no mistake from the spot.

The second half was characterised with wasted chances on the part of the strikers of Winnerspark FC. They later introduced the former Dynamos midfielder, Salthiel Phasha but lady luck was not on their side as they continued to waste more chances until the final whistle.