adminsemi-finals of the Mbada Diamonds Cup after beating Blue Ribbon in a lukewarm match at Torwood yesterday.
Masame’s 34th minute scorcher, which earned him the man-of-the-match award, was one of the few highlights of the afternoon as both teams struggled to keep the ball on the ground in the searing heat.
Blue Ribbon finished with 10 men after their holding midfielder, James Jam, was sent off after receiving a second yellow card in the 82nd minute.
Jam got his first booking in the 79th minute for a rough tackle on Masimba Mambare and three minutes later he was shown another yellow card for a crude tackle on Conrad Whitby.
The Mighty Bulls, however, drew satisfaction from the victory, which ended a one-month drought going back to September 24, when they last beat Monomotapa 2-1 in the first round of the same tournament.
They will now meet Zimbabwe Saints in the last four after Chikwata sailed through courtesy of a 9-8 victory over Kiglon on Saturday.
The semi-finals will be played in a fortnight.
Motor Action assistant coach, Prince Matore, said they were now looking forward to adding another piece of silverware to the BancABC Sup8r Cup they won early this year.
“I’m happy that we have won today but we had to fight hard because these guys beat us a few weeks ago.
“I give credit to the players for responding positively and we were aggressive and alert in all departments,” said Matore.
Motor Action were the first to test their opponents when Allan Gahadzikwa found space through the middle and unleashed a low shot that was punched back into play by Tapiwa Zvaita.
Midfielder Milton Ncube then sent his effort over the cross bar from the rebound in the 10th minute.
Blue Ribbon never came into the game and their strikers didn’t threaten the Bulls defence and Motor Action goalkeeper Marlon Jani was virtually untested for the entire 90 minutes.
The Blue Ribbon strikers could have done better in the 21st minute when Talent Munetsi dispossesed Godfrey Moyo inside the box and laid a neat square pass into the area but the ball found no takers.
However, Masame gave the Bulls the breakthrough just 11 minutes before the breather when he received a good pass from Mambare and unleashed a powerful shot that gave the goalkeeper no chance from close range.
Blue Ribbon coach, Misheck Chidzambwa, made two changes at the restart, bringing in Mario Mabhacho and Charlton Mashumba, to add punch to his strikeforce but the millers’ fortunes didn’t change.
Blue Ribbon suffered a setback before the match when defender, Brighton Tuwaya, had to leave camp at the 11th hour following the death of his father.
Chidzambwa was frustrated and had no wise words for his side’s poor show, especially the sad ending when he had to restrain Takesure Chiragwi and Tineyi Chitora who had an altercation.
“We deserve to lose because we didn’t play our normal game. What we played today isn’t football, it was just kick and rush all afternoon and I cannot blame anyone or the pitch,” said Chidzambwa.
Teams
Motor Action
P. Bernard, O. Mushure, R. Machaya, G. Moyo, I. Masame, M. Ncube (c. Whitby 57th minute), M. Mambare, E. Gahadzikwa, T. Nyamandwe, K. Musharu.
Blue Ribbon
T. Zvaita, C. Rukwanhi, P. Chiragwi, M. Mwinga, C. Kamhapa (C. Mukanhairi 66th minute), P. Chitora, J. Jam, D. Kamunenga, C. Dickson, T. Munetsi (M. Mabhacho 46th minute), F. Kuswatuka (C. Mashumba 46th minute.).
Online Reporter
Peter Tanyanyiwa