Tadious Manyepo
Zimpapers Sports Hub
Scottland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0
Chicken Inn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0
SCOTTLAND president Pedzai “Scott” Sakupwanya waved at the media enclosure as he made his way out of Rufaro at the sound of the final whistle.
“Tough luck, next year,” he said.
That was brief, yet it aptly captured it all.
Scottland are still mathematically within fighting distance to reclaim the league championship.
But this draw practically lessened their chances, as they could only reduce the gap between them and leaders Hardrock to four points.
This outstanding match was a game their fight highly depended on, but there was no guarantee they would win it.
It’s a game they needed to win to cut the gap at the top to just two and ensure a nerve-racking finish in the final two games of the season.
But, with so much pressure on their shoulders to deliver, Scottland huffed and puffed, and in the end they literally surrendered the championship to newcomers Hardrock, who are now just one win away from the crown.
Yet the Mabvuku team dominated play in all its aspects, but they never looked like able to get a goal that could have left the race loose going into the final 180 minutes.
Perhaps the Tonderai Ndiraya factor played a part.
The Chicken Inn coach was in charge when Scottland delivered the title to Mabvuku last year before he was replaced by Norman Mapeza at the commencement of this term.
Mapeza was recently fired and replaced, on an interim basis, by manager Peter Ndlovu.
And Ndiraya looked like a man keen to deny the team he helped win last year another chance to do it on the bounce.
Whatever the plan he had on his scheming board, it worked wonders.
And Ndlovu was left not only to rue the missed chances to keep Hardrock in check, but to concede it’s now out of their sight.
“Of course, we are disappointed with the result. We are not going to give up yet. We know it is impossible, but look, we are going to go to the end. That is what we are looking at,” said Ndlovu.
“And the team plays for something in the cup, but obviously, mathematically, we can’t keep chasing, and we can only rely on others now. We wanted to do it ourselves and fight to the end, but it is what it is.
“At the end of the day, last week, I said here again, and I said, I would rather score one and win one-nil. But I don’t want to miss 10 chances and score none. So that is the difference from last week. So, yeah, it is what it is.”
Ndiraya didn’t mince his words when he talked of what his plan was.
“We got a draw against the defending champions.
“Firstly, I must say, we were playing a good side, a very good side, which is of good quality. Tactically, they are very good. No wonder they are champions. They have a very good team, a team that any coach would really want to coach,” said Ndiraya.
“In the first half, I think it was a bit difficult for us, but of course, it was tactical. I thought Scottland controlled the match very, very well.
“They got chances. We were defending deep; yes, we were managing the block very well, but I also thought that in some instances, we were very vulnerable. We looked very vulnerable.
“Going forward, I think we had sporadic attacks, obviously, because we were not really getting good support from the forwards who were supposed to support our top man, Simon. So it then became very difficult for us to go forward. It was energy-sapping.
“Scottland were moving the ball around very well. That then made some of our players a bit tired, and we were then restricted in terms of movements going forward.”
He added, “Our objective was to come here and get at least a point. But for you to do that, you also need to go forward.
“You can’t be defending the whole game. I thought our offensive was really, really poor today.
“But in terms of game management, I thought we did very, very well. When you defend, you also want to keep possession and then try to go forward and try to create chances for you to score. We didn’t do that enough today.
“Naturally, we were then playing on the counter-attack. And when you play on the counter-attack, you need very fast players, players who can keep the ball, players who can move into space quickly, and then, of course, exploit that space behind the defence.
“Towards the end, I think in the last five minutes, that’s when we were a bit free. We were trying to move forward, trying to create chances and some bit of luck. I thought, with good decisions in the final third, we could have at least scored a goal.”
Chicken Inn are trying to move into a better position on the log, and the point they gained yesterday was a huge step towards that objective.
