The Sunday News
Mehluli Sibanda, Senior Sports Reporter
Bulawayo City . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (1) 1
Manica Diamonds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (1) 2
BULAWAYO City suffered their second loss on the trot in the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League when they came out second best against Manica Diamonds in a lively encounter played at Barbourfields Stadium yesterday.
Goals by Tichaona Mabvura and Xolisani Moyo ensured that the Gem Boys walked away with the three points while Tawanda Zinaka scored the only goal for Amakhosi in the 32nd minute. It was the second win in a row for Manica Diamonds after they defeated Whawha 4-0 at home in their opening match of the season.
Bulawayo City coach, Philani “Beefy” Ncube felt that his team performed better than the visitors and were unfortunate to lose.
“Of course in terms of the result, we lost but in terms of performance we were better than them most of the game,’’ Ncube said.
He lamented the blunder made by his goalkeeper, Aaron Ngwenya who failed to deal with a corner kick from Mabvura, which allowed Moyo to head in the second goal for Manica Diamonds in the 60th minute. For Manica Diamonds’ opening goal, Ngwenya had done well to shut out Mabvura’s initial attempt but his defence did not come to his rescue, which saw the experienced midfielder slamming the ball into the net at second attempt with 17 minutes played.
Despite the loss, the seasoned coach strongly believes that they will rise from the bottom.
“The unfortunate thing is that if the goalkeeper makes a mistake, it becomes an individual game. I wouldn’t like to single out the goalkeeper’s mistake but we also had chances that we should have perhaps rectified his mistake. We will rise, we need to keep on working hard,’’ said Ncube.
Manica Diamonds coach, Johannes Nhumwa attributed his team’s success to having an affirmative approach to the game.
“If you get in the field of play, if you play with positive mind, the result will come, you just need to be patient. From the onset, we were having the mindset of just going up there, we create chances,’’ remarked Nhumwa.
He is not getting carried away as yet despite his team being up there with the leading pack at the start of the season.
“Football has not yet started, we are still moving on, the battle is still on.”
Teams
Bulawayo City: A Ngwenya, L Ncube, D Sibanda, V Moyo, W Munhorwei, M Ncube, A Ndlovu (Lunga 79 mins) , T Zinaka, C Machisi, W Kamudyariwa (Ndiweni 56 mins) , N Khanye (Dlodlo 56 mins)
Manica Diamonds: A Rayners, C Munzabwa, T Chamboko, E Mafirenyika, T Ndlovu, L Masibera, X Moyo (Mamvura 67 mins) , P Manhanga (Teguru 90+2 mins), T Mabvura (Makaha 90+2 mins) , L Katongomara (Nyamandwe 79 mins) , J Takunda
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