Online Reporter
Langton Nyakwenda in NORTON
MWOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (0) 1
Manica Diamonds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (1) 1
MANICA Diamonds coach Jairos Tapera was left fuming, well after the final whistle had been blown to end this Castle Lager Premier Soccer encounter.
His gripe was that he thought his side were short-changed in yesterday’s clash against log leaders and Premiership newboys MWOS at Ngoni.
Tapera had seen his Gem Boys steal the lead after 17 minutes, but the home team, unbeaten in their top-flight debut, levelled with a hotly contested penalty late in the second half.
When Manica Diamonds thought they had found the winner right at the death, Nigel Mupinduki’s strike was disallowed for offside by referee Tichaona Mbire.
The game then ended in a stalemate with MWOS returning to the top of the log and also preserving their unbeaten start to life in the Big Boys league.
MWOS have now gone for nine games without defeat, and yesterday’s come-from-behind draw helped them reclaim top spot, edging overnight leaders Simba Bhora by a point.
Lloyd Mutasa’s men now have 19 points.
However, for Tapera, he felt hard done by and believed the visitors deserved to win.
The short-lived Warriors coach thought the penalty awarded to MWOS should not have stood, arguing that Brett Amidu, who handled the ball in the 80th minute, was facing the opposite direction.
“I need to be convinced if I were to look at it, because it was on TV.
“I need to watch it on TV and be convinced that all these two goals were genuinely our fault or they were genuinely the fault of somebody else,” said Tapera.
Manica Diamonds benefited from goalkeeper Martin Mapisa’s howler to take the lead after 17 minutes, through Ask Rupande.
They held onto that lead at the break.
But MWOS came back a rejuvenated side from that breather, and they had Manica Diamonds on the ropes after the introduction of Salif Cheya and Banda.
Cheya would go on to convert the penalty, sending Gem Boys’ Tedious Baye the wrong way with a powerful strike.
It was a cruel blow to Baye, who was brilliant throughout the match, denying MWOS a couple of times when the hosts breached the Manica Diamonds defence.
While MWOS stretched their unbeaten streak to nine games, Manica Diamonds’ notorious for inconsistency, have now gone four matches without a win.
Just like yesterday at Ngoni, the Gem Boys have failed to protect a lead in all those previous three matches.
“We have to move on,” said Tapera.
MWOS gaffer Mutasa praised his charges for their fighting spirit.
“I think we started a bit slow. We gave them room to play in the first half,” Mutasa said.
The veteran coach refused to blame the result solely on Mapisa’s howler.
“They scored from what we thought was an avoidable goal.
“But such is football, you make such mistakes.
“But I’m happy. The youngsters were very resolute,” he said.
He added, “They fought to the death, and we managed to get a point.
“And a point moved us to the top of the log.”
In a league that is looking to have a lot of see-saw battles along the way, MWOS would be happy to just hang on at the summit, even by the smallest of margins.
