adminTadious Manyepo Sports Reporter
Herentals…………………………………. (0) 2
Mutare City………………………………. (1) 1
HERENTALS defender Blessing Maunganidze scored one and engineered the other as the hosts came from behind to dent Mutare City’s survival hopes in an otherwise entertaining Castle Lager Premier Soccer League tie at Rufaro yesterday.
The burly defender recovered from a rare first half lapse which gifted Evans Chikwaikwai with an opportunity to put the visitors ahead before he put on a flawless second half performance.
With 15 minutes to go before time, Maunganidze rose highest to nod home a Gibson Chinobva looping free-kick.
And three minutes later he unleashed a ferocious volley from outside the box which Mutare City goalkeeper Alfred Chiname spilled for a corner.
From the resultant corner, Maunganidze’s central defence partner Carlos Mavhurume headed in the winner.
With championship marathon fast coming to its business end, Mutare City could as well be heading to the Eastern Region Division One as they remained 16th with a measly 22 points from 29 matches.
They are nine points to reach the safety zone and have only 15 points to play for before the curtain comes down on the 2018 season.
Their coach Ndega Matsika acknowledged his team now needed a miracle to survive the chop.
Mutare City could have taken the score line beyond Herentals’ reach had they followed up Chikwaikwai’s opener with some positive tactics.
Instead, they started to defend too deep soon after that fifth minute opener by the veteran striker.
Their decision to sit deep in their half allowed Herentals to take the game to them and the hosts forced them into commitng fouls including conceding a penalty early in the second half when Kelvin Bingala impeded Archmore Majarira.
Mutare City, hwoever did not take lightly to the penalty and they caused a five-minute stoppage of the as they protested the decision by referee Jimmy Makwanda.
When play resumed, Mutare breathed a sigh of relief as Chiname saved the set-piece by Tino Benza.
Benza could not make use of the second bite of the cherry, sending the rebound over.
“After allowing Herentals to come back into the match which we thought we had done enough to win, we are now definitely in danger of being relegated.
“What it means now is out of the five matches we are left with, we need to win all of them and pray that certain results go our way.
“What is even more worrying is the fact that we are not doing well away from home. Remember the last time we were in Harare, we got clobbered 7-0 by Black Rhinos.
“But, today we thought we had done very well but, that’s how cruel football can be. We lacked concentration and got punished. We were supposed to defend both those goals which we conceded,” Matsika said.
Matsika refused to blame the match officials for the penalty although he admitted to have incited his players, including Chiname, to move away from the 18-yard box.“When I appeared to be calling the players off the field that was nothing but only some kind of mind game issues. I wanted to disturb the mind of the penalty-taker and it worked.
“I am not an official. The referee saw an infringement and decided to give them a penalty and I can’t complain on issues to do with officiating as that’s not my job.
“I think we gave Herentals a win, we lacked concentration and allowed them to come back into the match in a match which we were supposed to win,” Matsika said.
Online Reporter