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 the jaws of defeat against Chicken Inn in a Castle Lager Premier Soccer League match 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 central midfielder Tafadzwa Kutinyu and Bulawayo Chiefs goalkeeper Issa Ali were shown red cards by referee Allan Bhasvi.
Chiefs missed a number of scoring opportunities in the first half and the two teams dished out some entertaining football in the second half.
Chicken Inn drew the first blood, with Kutinyu ghosting from the blind side to head in a Michael Charamba cross in the 55th minute.
Charamba turned his marker inside and out before sending in a curling cross beyond Chiefs’ defenders and Kutinyu timed his run to head home.
Kutinyu got his marching orders in the 69th minute for a careless tackle on Msebe.
From the freekick, Chiefs used their numerical advantage to pile pressure and got a corner.
Veremu rose high to head Msebe’s delivery, but he was denied by the upright. The ball then fell to Ayanda Ncube who hit a scorcher to draw level.
Chiefs tried to make their numerical advantage count, but it was Chicken Inn who surged ahead with an 87th minute goal from a freekick taken by Charamba from the edge of the box.
Chicken Inn won the freekick when Chiefs’ keeper 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 a goal scoring opportunity.
Having exhausted all their substitutes, Chiefs deployed Chirinda in goal and he 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 Whata who were better positioned to score, he blazed his effort over the bar.
Msebe equalised with the last kick of the game when he turned inside the box to control the ball with his right foot before unleashing 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, the Chiefs coach, praised his charges for fighting to the last whistle, but lamented their 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. But a point is still better,” Sweswe said.
Online Reporter