adminTWO late second half goals by Masimba Mambare and Enasio Perezo powered Motor Action to victory over Kiglon in this Castle Lager Premiership tie at Motor Action Sports Club yesterday.
Mambare’s 80th minute strike and second half substitute Perezo’s header three minutes later secured the full points for Motor Action as they closed the gap on log leaders FC Platinum.
The Mighty Bulls have now amassed 37 points from 18 matches and are two points behind FC Platinum.
Premiership moneybags FC Platinum had opened a five-point lead when they beat Hwange 2-0 at Mandava Stadium in Zvishavane.
The two teams, however, have the same number of games.
But it all looking gloomy for Kiglon who remained stuck at the bottom of the table with 16 points after yesterday’s defeat by the Mighty Bulls.
Left back Ocean Mushure orchestrated the Mighty Bulls’ opening goal when he left his marker for dead before finding Mambare with a low cross, which the latter tapped into an empty net with Stephen Chimusoro way out of the action.
Former Monomotapa defender Mushure was back to haunt Kiglon again, three minutes, this time his delivery from the left finding Perezo whose flashing header gave Chimusoro no chance.
Motor Action returned to league duties high on confidence after they overcame holders Dynamos in a BancABC Sup8r semi-final via a penalty shootout at Rufaro last Saturday.
With the Mighty Bulls threatening from the start, Chimusoro was the busier of the two goalkeepers.
The Kiglon goalkeeper however, did his best to keep his the Mighty Bulls strikers at bay with some brilliant saves in the opening half yesterday.
But Chimusoro almost scooped Eddie Chitato’s bicycle kick into his own net in the 37th minute but luckily the ball went out for a corner.
Just before half time Chitato, a former Kiglon son, thought he had given the Mighty Bulls the lead with his header but assistant referee Bongani Gadzikwa already had his flag up for off-side.
In the 55th minute, Chimusoro once again came to the rescue of Kiglon when Mambare worked his way past a number of defenders and set up Tawanda Nyamandwe but his cracker was blocked by the alert goalkeeper.
Moments later, some clever passes by Motor Action saw Chitato picking his spot but the striker’s thunderbolt was acrobatically tipped over for a corner by the impressive Chimusoro.
Despite the win, Mighty Bulls coach Joey Antipas said he was not too happy by their overall performance and reckoned that an element of complacency had crept into the minds of his players.
The Mighty Bulls coach said Kiglon gave them a good run despite being at the bottom of the table.
“After our win, I believe the title race is wide open and other teams are still in with a chance to win it,” Antipas said.
He also felt his players need to improve and stay focused on the big task at hand.
Antipas also said that his defence “is our strong weapon” as they have conceded the least number of goals (six) to date.
Kiglon coach Pearson Matipedza blamed the defeat on what he termed were two soft goals that his side conceded.
Teams:
Motor Action: M. Jani, R. Machaya, P. Bernard, I. Masame, M. Mambare, O. Mushure, G. Moyo, T. Nyamandwe (T. Ushe 77th minute), E. Chitato (E. Perezo 67th minute), A. Gahadzikwa, G. Phiri (M. Ncube 67th minute)
Kiglon: S. Chimusoro, K. Kapikinyu, M. Mususa, C. Machona, B. Bvumbe, M. Moyo, N. Madzivisa, S. Chokuwamba, P. Makuvaza (L. Chibwiro 46th minute), K. Mageja (B. Pamhirwa 63rd minute), A. Chivheya.
Online Reporter