adminFrom Ray Bande in Mutare
Buffaloes………………….(1) 1
Motor Action.……………..(0) 1BUFFALOES coach Timothy Masachi and his men conspired to disappoint their fans when they needlessly settled for a stalemate in a boring Castle Lager Premiership soccer match at Sakubva yesterday.
The result, however, left Motor Action, whose chances of Premiership survival are more mathematical than practical, still rooted at the basement of the table.
In yesterday’s encounter, the home team was the first to settle down and ask questions on the Mighty Bulls defence. Five minutes into the match, young Philip Thembani dribbled his marker on the left and sent a fine cross which unmarked Admire Dzumbunu failed to cleverly deal with and headed it straight into Motor Action goalkeeper Donovan Bernard’s waiting arms.
However, six minutes later, Mighty Bulls captain Godfrey Moyo handled the ball in a desperate attempt to clear his lines and Rusape referee Robert Mugorosa duly pointed to the spot.
And up stepped Golden Boot aspirant Steven Sibanda who sent Bernard the wrong way as he took his goal scoring tally to 12, one behind the league’s leading marksman Tendai Ndoro.
With Buffaloes in the lead, both teams resorted to some poor display characterised by sending long balls up field as they failed to give value for money to the sizeable crowd that was at Sakubva yesterday.
Numerous diabolical decisions by the match officials against the visitors, epitomised by a shocking judgment to award the home team a corner kick in the 78th minute instead of a goal kick, only helped to make the encounter even more unexciting.
Nonetheless, the introduction of nimble-footed Walter Musona just after the break breathed life into the visitors’ attack. To his credit, Musona was instrumental in most of the Mighty Bulls moves as they piled on the pressure on the home side in search of an equaliser.
In fact, the Mighty Bulls were the better of the two sides in the second half.
The resilient Mighty Bulls were rewarded for the efforts in added time when Musona drove past a cluster of Buffaloes players on the right and sent a low cross which Buffaloes’ goalkeeper Blessing Mwandimutsira failed to deal with, resulting in Ngoni Maviri tapping in the ball home from close range to restore parity.
Buffaloes’ coach Masachi, who watched his team concede a late equaliser for the second time in as many league matches, said his team played badly since they were missing the services of some key players.
“It is sad that once again we conceded a late equaliser, just like what happened against Highlanders here at Sakubva. I just do not know why we keep losing concentration when it matters most.
“We did not play well as a team and we allowed Motor Action to come back into the game. It was also because we did not have some of our key players owing to injury,” said Masachi.
Buffaloes were missing the services of midfielder Prosper Matizanadzo, defenders Simba Nyauzima and Philip Chandisaita.
Motor Action coach Prince Matore had no kind words for the match officials.
“How do we expect these youngsters to grow when we are frustrating them like this through atrocious match officiating? Even that penalty was created out of nothing. This is sad. My youngsters played really well and it is unfortunate we have some referees who want to determine the match results,” he said.
Online Reporter