adminRicky Zililo in BULAWAYO
Bulawayo Chiefs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (0) 2
Chicken Inn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (0) 2
BULAWAYO Chiefs attacking midfielder Mthokozisi Msebe struck a last minute beauty to save his team from defeat against Chicken Inn in a Castle Lager Premier Soccer League match played at Luveve Stadium yesterday.
The derby lived up to its billing, producing four well-crafted second half goals, as both teams ended the game with 10 players after Chicken Inn’s central midfielder Tafadzwa Kutinyu and Bulawayo Chiefs’ goalkeeper Issa Ali were shown red cards by referee Allan Bhasvi.
Having played a goalless first half, where Chiefs missed a number of scoring opportunities, the two teams returned from the break to give fans who braved the chilly weather some entertaining display as they went pound for pound.
Chicken Inn drew the first blood, with Kutinyu ghosting from the blind side to head in a Michael Charamba cross from the right in the 55th minute.
Charamba had turned his marker on the right inside and out before sending in a curling cross with his left foot that went beyond the Amakhosi Amahle defenders and was met by Kutinyu who timed his run into the box.
In the 69th minute, Kutinyu got his marching orders for a tackle on Msebe.
From the resultant free kick, Bulawayo Chiefs used their numerical advantage to pile pressure and got a corner.
Billy Veremu rose high to head a Msebe delivery, but was denied by the upright. The ball then fell on the path of Ayanda Ncube who hit a scorcher to draw level.
Bulawayo Chiefs tried to make their numerical advantage count, but it was Chicken Inn who surged ahead with an 87th minute goal from a free kick taken by Charamba from the edge of the box.
Chicken Inn won the free kick when Ali fouled Brian Muza a few metres outside the box, leaving Bhasvi with no choice but to send the goalie for an early shower for denying the Gamecocks’ striker an obvious goal scoring opportunity.
Having exhausted all their substitutes, Bulawayo Chiefs then deployed Chirinda to guard the goal and was beaten by Charamba from the dead ball.
Muza should have killed the contest in added time when he broke on the left, but instead of laying the ball to Clive Augusto or Malvin Hwata who were better positioned to score, he blazed his effort over the bar.
With the last kick of the game, Msebe equalised as he showed class when he turned inside the box, controlled the ball with his right foot before hitting a blistering shot that beat a diving Bernard.
Chicken Inn gaffer Prince Matore was visibly hurt by losing maximum points at the end of the game.
“It’s disappointing to drop two valuable points when we were staring at victory. We failed to defend well and we were punished for that,” Matore said.
Lizwe Sweswe, Bulawayo Chiefs gaffer was full of praise for his charges for fighting till the last whistle, but lamented on poor conversion rate.
“We failed to manage our duels when we were a man up leading to that red card, but we showed character in terms of fighting. At least a point is better,” Sweswe said.
Teams
Bulawayo Chiefs: I Ali, M Sibanda (Matare 55th min), K Joe, M Msebe, O Chirinda, M Mkolo, N Ncube (Veremu 55th min), B Rusinga, D Phiri, M Gasela (Ayanda Ncube 61st min), F Moyo (Musharu 78th min)
Chicken Inn: D Bernard, A Chinda, X Ndlovu, M Bhebhe, D Jaricha, S Mhlanga, C Dzingai, G Majika (Hwata 63rd min), T Kutinyu, B Muza, M Charamba (Augusto 87th min).
Online Reporter