Byo City lose to counterpart

Ngqwele Dube
@rasmthembo
Bulawayo City ………………………… 0
Harare City ………..……………… (0) 2
MOSES “Bambo” Chunga’s positive start as Harare City coach continued yesterday with his side beating Bulawayo City by two second half goals in a Castle Lager Premier Soccer League tie at Barbourfields Stadium. Goals from Francisco Zekumbawire and Martin Vengesai were enough to secure victory for the visitors who however, played second fiddle to Bulawayo City for the better part of the match.

Amakhosi, as Bulawayo City are known, rued a missed penalty in the 32nd minute which could have tilted the game in their favour. The home side’s coach Philani “Beefy” Ncube felt the miss affected them and had an impact in their loss.

Amakhosi captain, Xolisani “Scara” Moyo was handed the responsibility of taking the spot kick after referee Bonamali Bwanali adjudged that William Manondo had fouled Eddie Nkhulungo in the box but the skipper’s effort was blocked by Tafadzwa Dube in between the posts for Harare City and efforts to bury the rebound by Moyo were fruitless as he shot wide.

“The penalty miss was the turning point of the match because afterwards the whole team was dejected and failed to rise from that miss. It is unfortunate Moyo did not know Dube’s strengths hence his failure to get the ball past him,” said Ncube.

While Bulawayo City had the better of chances in the first half, the visitors did not waste time when Bwanali blew his whistle to signal the start of the second half, scoring their first goal seconds after the break.

Harare City quickly played the ball from the centre and Munyaradzi Diro-Nyenye’s cross from the right flank found captain, Zekumbawire whose flashing header beat Liberty Chirava in between the posts for Amakhosi in the 46th minute.

A quick counter attack 12 minutes later saw Vengesai and Ronald Chitiyo exchange passes before the former made it two with a stinger that all but confirmed Harare City’s win.

Chunga, who replaced Taurai Mangwiro as Harare City head coach, was happy with the second consecutive win on the trot but said they would be taking each game as it comes. The former Dynamos coach said he had Beefy to thank as he had warned them to expect a tough match and they came prepared admitting it was a difficult match.

“We came prepared after being warned the match won’t be easy and despite them (Bulawayo City) having better position I think we punished them when it mattered most. It wasn’t an easy match as I was standing the whole 90 minutes barking instructions. The penalty save worked in our favour as it boosted our confidence,” said Chunga.

Beefy said it was unfortunate they could not turn their possession into goals.

“In football what counts are results and not how well you played. It will be back to the drawing board for us, it is a lesson learnt but we will rise. I think poor finishing let us down because if we had been more accurate upfront we could have buried the chances we created,” he said ,adding he would be going into the market in search of strikers during the mid-season window.

Teams
Bulawayo City: L Chirava, L Ncube, B Dube, B Chikwenya, Z Sibanda, I Kutsanzira (T Ndhlovu, 65th), X Moyo, S Ndlovu, E Nkhulungo (E Mandiranga, 53rd), M Dube (T Chimenya, 53rd)

Harare City: T Dube, J Tigere, A Chiveya, M Diro-Nyenye, C Dickson, T Samanja, W Manondo (J Jam, 73rd), R Chitiyo (K Kumwala, 79th), M Vengesai, H Chimutimunzeve, F Zekumbawire (J Chipangura, 88th)