Wenslus Murape
Zimpapers Sports Hub
MANICA Diamonds scrambled a 2-1 win over Arenel Movers while Dynamos were frustrated to a goalless draw at TelOne in re-arranged Castle Lager Premiership matches yesterday.
At Sakubva, Manica Diamonds coach Jairos Tapera’s men were far from convincing, especially in their conversion rate.
The hosts led in the 17th minute through a goal mouth melee in which Dynamos reject Tawanda Macheka tapped home from close range.
The Gem Boys were to shine again the the 33rd minutes when exciting midfielder Anelka Chivandire connected a cross from workaholic Gift Bero to extend Manica Diamonds lead.
Arenel Movers pulled one back in the 50th minute when they went on a counter attack that ended with Toto Banda slotting the ball home. Tapera believes this is the start of a positive change of fortunes for his team after a lengthy period of not only failing to win but also firing blanks.
“I think we played well and created a number of amscoring chances that we could have buried to win this encounter by a wider margin.
“However, a win is a win. We are happy with the three points we got. We just look forward to build on that and get more positive results going g into the remaining matches of the season,” Tapera said.
His opposite number Philani “Beefy” Ncube is still confident that his team will survive relegation at the end of the season.
“We played very well and we could have easily walked away with at least a point, but such is the game of football. We were just unlucky. We just have to ho back to the drawing board with the hope of getting maximum points in matches to come.
“I believe we are still so much into it. We will survive relegation. We still have nine matches to go and that is a lot of points to play for,” said Ncube.
At Bata Stadium, Dynamos coach Lloyd Chigowe felt the tactics employed by The Wifi boys were negative and did not allow his side to fully express themselves.
“Obviously, I am not happy with the result and also not happy with the behavior of our opponents,” he said. We came here to play football, but there was no football to be played our opponents even hid the balls and there was no match to be played,
“And their goalkeeper even started delaying in the first five minutes. Of course we should have taken our chances and that should have changed the complexion of the game.”
Chigowe was not holding back adding:
“This has become a culture of our football, this match is no exception, there are a number of teams that play like that,
“The funny thing is, if you are in the relegation zone you must fight for three points and not one, It can only be one way ticket to hell or to heaven.”
TelOne coach, Hebert Maruwa defended his side’s approach to the match saying the important thing for him was to get something out of the match.
“It was a good game for us, the point we gained is valuable to us,” he said.
“We were not delaying the game, we were just managing it, they were coming hard on us so it was all about game management.”
Online Reporter