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Lovemore Kadzura in RUSAPE
Tenax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (0)
Dynamos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (0) 2
DYNAMOS narrowed down the gap with pacesetters FC Platinum to six points at the top of the Castle Lager Premiership football table after dismissing Tenax with two late goals at Vengere yesterday afternoon.
It was second half substitutes Ralph Kawondera and Emmanuel Paga who provided the goals in the 89th minute and two minutes of added time respectively to break the hearts of the home side who had matched the visiting Harare giants man-to-man the entire match and with a little bit of lucky, they could have emerged the winners.
It was a cagey affair in the first half as both sides were too cautious and resorted to pumping long balls up-front.
Tenax had the first real chance in 20th minute after some exchanges outside the box and striker Aristotle Manyamba tried his luck with a shot outside the box but it went over the bar.
The home side were back again in the 31st minute when an unmarked Theophilus Musiteyi’s flash header went off the target.
Dynamos had their first shot on target later on when Godknows Murwira’s powerful first-time strike outside the box was pushed away for a corner by Philip Makumi, in goals for Tenax.
In the second half, Tenax almost took the lead in the 51st minute when a Tashinga Pfende long-range free-kick hit the cross bar with a diving DeMbare goalminder Taimon Mvula a well beaten man.
The game’s momentum slowed down from there on, courtesy of the home side’s time-wasting antics as their players were frequently going down and seeking attention from the medics.
Dynamos responded by pulling out Tinashe Makanda, King Nadolo, Alex Orotomal and Keith Murera and brought in Paga, Evans Katema, Issa Sadiki, Emmanuel Jalai and Kawondera.
In the 70th minute Kawondera had his goal bound shot inside the box blocked Tenax midfielder Simon Munemerero.
Tenax had a glorious scoring opportunity in 82nd minute when Panashe Mutasa received a through pass and had a face-to-face encounter with Mvula but agonisingly directed his weak shot wide.
With the match heading for what could have been a fair draw, DeMbare’s never-die-spirit paid off when they piled more men upfront in search for a winner and they were duly reward in the 89th minute when Kawondera slotted the ball home in a goal-mouth melee.
Dynamos sealed the match three minutes later when Paga’s low shot inside the box beat a diving Makumi.
Dynamos coach Tonderai Ndiraya was impressed by his team’s fighting spirit and said with FC Platinum dropping two points on Saturday, the title race is now wide open for the top three teams.
“It was a very difficult match. It took us time to adjust to the conditions of the pitch. We were not consistent with our play as we were just pumping the goal upfront and it became difficult for us to create chances and penetrate them. Tenax matched us and closed the space for us.
“The change that we made brought in some energy, especially upfront and in the end we got two late goals. In the end what is important is to get the result we deserved despite the game not flowing. Overally I am impressed by the fighting spirit of the boys.
“I do not want to think about it (winning the title) at the moment otherwise we will put us under unnecessary pressure. The race is still wide open, we still have 10 games to go now and a lot of things can happen. There are going to be a lot of ups and downs. What we require as a team is consistency and we are slowly getting it. We need to keep pace with FC Platinum and Chicken Inn. We will concentrate on what we can control,” said Ndiraya.
Tenax stand-in coach Isaac Nengomasha was disappointed by his charges failure to hold on till the final whilstle.
“We failed to concentrate to the last minute. The team played very well and we could have won this game but we collapsed in the last minutes. We still have a big chance of escaping relegation. If we maintained the fighting spirit we showed today then we will pick up some points along the way.”
Online Reporter