LOFTY AMBITI

Some teams find the adjustment to a new division tough, but not Casric Stars, who have hit the ground running.

- Mogamad Allie

Second on the Motsepe Foundation Championship table, only two points adrift of log leaders Polokwane City at the mid-season break represented an excellent start to life in the second tier of South African football for newcomers Casric Stars.

Their lofty position is a manifestation of how well the team has adapted to the rigours of campaigning in tough environment that is the National First Division.

Coached by Free State Stars legend Paulus Masehe, with former Bloemfontein Celtic and Mamelodi Sundowns star Thabo Nthethe as his assistant, Stars went into the break on the back of an impressive run of four wins in five games.

The sequence of wins was spoilt by a defeat at the hands of table-topping Polokwane City, who have now spent the past two seasons in the division after their seven-year sojourn in the Premiership was terminated at the end of the 2019/20 season.