Harare City . . . . . (2)3 AS Adema . . . . . . (0)2 NEW signing Raphael Manuvire scored a brace including an 88th minute winner that gave Harare City a slender lead over visiting AS Adema of Madagascar in a five-goal CAF Confederations Cup preliminary round first leg encounter at Rufaro yesterday.
Munyaradzi Madzokere
It was an unconvincing display by the Zimbabwean representatives in the continental competition who let slip a 2-0 first half lead in first six second-half minutes and had to cling on for dear life until Manuvire’s late cracker from outside the box saved the day.
Having missed a flurry of chances earlier on, the hosts took the lead through another new acquisition Ronald Chitiyo in the 38th, benefitting from a mistake by AS Adema captain Johnny Rafelambolasoa.
Three minutes later, Manuvire extended the Sunshine Boys’ lead after the ball took an awkward deflection and went through AS Adema goalkeeper Zo Andriamiarintoa’s legs.
Harare City coach Taurai Mangwiro did not have kind words for his team’s sloppy defending, which allowed the visitors back into the game early in the second half.
“We were somehow careless with the manner we defended especially when we gave them the first goal. There was virtually no marking because there were two guys at the back post and no one was attending to them,” he said.
After going to half-time two goals down, AS Adema came back firing from all angles and were duly rewarded two minutes after the restart. Harare City defenders were caught ball-watching as Florent Rajaoniasy got to the end of a floating free kick at the back post to head home past Maxwell Nyamupangedengu, who had been a passenger since the match started.
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The visitors, spurred on by a section of Dynamos fans in the stadium, continued making forays into the Harare City box and in the 51st minutes an out-of-sorts Blessing Moyo needlessly hacked down Isotombo Bourahim and upstepped Voavy Kassah whose rising spot kick found the roof of the net.
Mangwiro’s boys tried desperately to up their game, but failed time and again to breach the visitors’ defence and when they did, Kudakwashe Kumwala’s header found the upright post.
With time ticking away, Manuvire decided to take matters into his own hands.
He received a pass outside the box, picked his spot and sent a stinging drive past a stretching Andriamiarintoa into the bottom corner to save his new paymasters the blushes.
AS Adema coach Ruph Menahely was satisfied with the result and expressed confidence they would overturn the result in the second leg.
“We are satisfied with the result considering the journey that we took to get here. We are very sure we are going to win in Madagascar because we have to do this and we want to do it for our country,” he said.
