The Sunday News
Mehluli Sibanda, Senior Sports Reporter
Bulawayo City . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0
FC Platinum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (0) 2
BULAWAYO City coach, Philani “Beefy” Ncube accused his players of engaging in match fixing after they conceded two soft goals to lose to FC Platinum in a Castle Lager Premier Soccer League encounter played at Barbourfields Stadium yesterday.
Bhekimpilo Ncube, the City goalkeeper was to blame for both goals conceded by Amakhosi. First he came off the line and gave Panase Mutimbanyoka an easy task of lobbying the ball over him before confusion between the keeper and defender Vincent Moyo allowed Thandolwenkosi Ngwenya to score the second goal for the visitors.
It was the seventh defeat for City whose only win of the season came against Highlanders at the end of February. The City coach said he cannot rule out match fixing because of the way his goalkeeper behaved on the day. Bhekimpilo was eventually replaced by Reward Muza, who is on loan from Highlanders in the 69th minute and the substitute keeper was impressive, amid cheers from the Bosso players who were watching in the terraces.
“The substitute goalkeeper is my man of the match so you can analyse between the lines why I am saying that. You cannot rule out match fixing considering how we conceded those goals, a seasoned goalkeeper, just coming out when the striker and the defender are 50/50, he cries that the ball is his, we concede again the next thing we substitute him, he limps,’’ fumed Ncube.
He feels that they deserved to lose because of the way they played and how their opponents performed.
“I am not disappointed because we played a team that perhaps outplayed us for the entire game. The way they played and the way we played, we deserved to lose. We failed to come out of our shelves and hence we conceded two stupid goals,’’ Ncube said.
FC Platinum coach Norman Mapeza felt that they should have scored more goals especially in the first half.
“We came here looking for a positive result. If you look at our performance in the first half, we did everything, we could have scored two or three goals but at the end of the day same old story, I think we still need to improve much on our decision making,’’ said Mapeza.
He is of the view that local football standards have drastically gone down and as coaches they should take the blame.
“To be honest, the quality of football has gone down, massively because there are some teams that have been winning but if you look at their performances, most of the clubs in the league, they can’t even play two or three passes, it’s just two touches ball forward. Our football is going down I’ve to be honest with you,’’ opined Mapeza.
Teams
Bulawayo City: B Ncube (Muza 69 mins), D Sibanda (Dlodlo 47 mins), V Moyo, W Munorwei, L Ncube, M Bhebhe, M Ncube, C Machisi, W Ndiweni (Farasi 69 mins), N Moyo (Jaricha 32 mins), N Ndlovu (Sibanda 69 mins)
FC Platinum: P Mhari, G Mbweti, G Bello, W Stima, K Mangiza, R Pavari, J Mutudza, D Teguru (Musona 52 mins) P Mutimbanyoka, I Mucheneka (Banda 79 mins), T Ngwenya (Bhebhe 90+1 mins)
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