Online Reporter
Tinashe Mukono Zimpapers Sports Hub
Simba Bhora (1) 1 Scottland (2) 2
KNOWLEDGE Musona struck twice as champions Scottland ended a two-match winless run with a 2-1 victory over Simba Bhora at Wadzanai yesterday, preserving their three-point lead over Hardrock in the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League title race.
The former Warriors captain converted an 11th-minute penalty and curled home a free kick on the stroke of half-time, either side of Petrus Simaneka’s equaliser, to take his league tally to 10 goals.
Musona had fired wide in the second minute before Moses Shidolo’s powerful shot struck Simba Bhora captain Webster Tafa’s hand nine minutes later.
The referee pointed to the spot, drawing protests from the hosts, but Musona kept his composure to score his ninth goal of the season.
Simba Bhora responded strongly. Ishmael Nyanhi headed wide from a Simaneka cross with Nelson Chadya beaten, while Blessed Ndereki’s snapshot forced the Scottland goalkeeper into a save.
The pressure paid off in the 29th minute when a mix-up between Chadya and Kevin Moyo allowed Simaneka to steal possession and roll the ball into an empty net.
With the Wadzanai crowd behind Simba Bhora and a swirling wind sweeping across the ground, Musona restored Scottland’s lead from another set piece.
Mthokozisi Msebe was brought down just outside the box and Musona curled the resulting free kick beyond the goalkeeper to complete his brace.
Scottland coach Norman Mapeza hailed Musona’s latest contribution.
“Knowledge has been doing it of late. He works hard and is dedicated to the profession. Sometimes I run out of words to talk about Knowledge. He is an important player to us and showed it again today,” he said.
Simba Bhora pressed for another equaliser after the break, with the introduction of Ronald Chitiyo adding creativity to their play, but Simaneka and McCartney Naweseb failed to take their chances.
The defeat extended the former champions’ winless run to five matches, although coach Mandla Mpofu took encouragement from the performance.
“We gave a decent performance and will take encouragement from this game going forward. We have to refine some aspects of our game to be consistent,” he said.
Mpofu, however, felt both decisions that led to Scottland’s goals had gone against his side.
“I do not think that was a penalty, but a ball-to-hand situation. Even the free kick probably should not have been awarded, but at the end of the day, we take the result and move on.”
