SLUGGISH GEM BOYS CHOKE

Ray Bande in MUTARE

Manica Diamonds ……….…………….. 0

ZPC Kariba………………………………..(1) 1

AN out-of-sorts Manica Diamonds turned on a sluggish and clueless display that allowed visitors ZPC Kariba FC to collect maximum points at Sakubva yesterday.

Six minutes into the encounter, the visitors took the lead after Ian Sibelo was given a lot of space, drove the ball from the centre of the field, dribbled past three Manica Diamonds players before firing home a hard-and-low shot to beat goalkeeper Tedious Baye.

ZPC Kariba managed to hang on to that early lead for the remainder of the game and their boring delaying tactics paid off when the referee ended the contest.

Those not familiar with local football would be forgiven to think that ZPC Kariba were the team at home as they managed to string some good passes and dominated the better part of the encounter.

The hosts kept chasing shadows.

Defender Farai Bande and the slippery Charles Teguru were the notable players who, at least, did well for the hosts.

Manica Diamonds coach, Jairos Tapera, conceded that his team did not play well.

“I think it was clear from the onset to the end of the match that we were not ourselves. We performed very badly in all departments and our opponents did well to take advantage of that.

“My players could not make accurate passes and we just did not click at all. I guess it was just not our day and we paid dearly for that.”

ZPC Kariba coach, Newton Chitewe, said:

“I think this is a good result for us. We badly needed this win to move away from the relegation zone. All along, we could play well but somehow we would succumb to some late goals especially against these big teams. “Today we managed to hang on and played according to instructions up to the final whistle. We will now move ahead with all the confidence we need going into our remaining league matches.”