adminAugustine Hwata Sports Reporter
TRIANGLE United skipper William Mapfumo now wants his troops to remain focused on the league race after scaling the heights of winning the NetOne OneWallet Cup.
Triangle defied the odds to overcome Dynamos 4-3 on penalties after the match had ended 1-1 in regulation time.
Mapfumo, a former Dynamos and Buymore defender, was naturally excited at lifting the Cup at the expense of their more illustrious opponents.
The Lowveld side are going to meet high-riding ZPC Kariba in an away tie when league action resumes this weekend.
“I am happy that I have added another medal to my trophy cabinet to what has been there already. But, more importantly, this is the first silverware for the club,” said Mapfumo.
Triangle have lost their last two league matches against Buffaloes and Harare City while things have not been well in their camp with goalkeepers’ coach Gift Muzadzi walking away.
The Triangle executive reportedly gave the technical team an ultimatum to win three league matches, a target they have failed to achieve.
But the victory in the One Wallet Cup could just give coach Biggie Zuze “a stay of execution.” “We have not been getting good results in the league and I hope this trophy will mean something to our fans.
“We have been losing league matches because we had been unlucky but I think we have found that good patch now.
“I hope that wins will start coming from the next league game,” said Mapfumo.
Nomadic forward Felix Kuswatuka gave Triangle the lead in the 19th minute but Dynamos evened the scores when Mutuma beat Ronald Mudimu in the 40th minute. Triangle played with 10 men after defender Jimmy Dzingai was shown a second yellow for a foul on Cliff Sekete but Dynamos failed to capitalise on their numerical advantage.
“When we were a man short, we tried to cover for that missing man and everyone just had to fight harder,” said Mapfumo.
Former Chicken Inn midfielder Cabby Kamhapa, who is now at Triangle, also said they need positive results in the league matches.
“We have been struggling in league games. I think we have lost two games in a row and this OneWallet Cup should motivate the guys to work even harder.
“I think we managed to play well in this Cup competition and we played according to the coaches’ instructions and it should a big boost for our next game.
“After taking the slim lead, we thought we had secured the much-needed win but unfortunately Dynamos equalised and that changed the game.
“The red card also made life difficult but we managed to hold them in regulation time and extra-time,” Kamhapa said.
Kamhapa said Triangle were upbeat on their chances of winning the match once it reached the shoot-out, having done so in the quarter-final against Harare City and in the semi-final when they dismissed Chicken Inn.
Online Reporter