Wardens sink soldiers

Sport
Flame Lily moved up two places to Premier Soccer League position 13 following a 2-0 win over army side Buffaloes at Lafarge yesterday

Flame Lily moved up two places to Premier Soccer League position 13 following a 2-0 win over army side Buffaloes at Lafarge yesterday.

By DON MAKANYANGA Flame Lily … (1) 2 Buffaloes … 0

Macmillan Chigora struck in either half, capitalising on a porous Buffaloes defence to give the prison wardens their second win of the season.

Flame Lily enjoyed the better part of the afternoon in a match they could have won by more than half a dozen goals had they been precise in front of goal as Buffaloes failed to make any meaningful attack the entire afternoon.

Chigora ghosted from the blind side to break the deadlock on the half-hour mark following a defensive blunder by Liberty Chakoroma who failed to control the ball on a bumpy pitch.

A product of Dynamos juniors, Chigora was back again to haunt the soldiers in the 77th minute when he headed home an Edwin Madanhanga cross.

Flame Lily coach Nesbert Saruchera was elated with his second victory of the season, remaining optimistic of his charges surviving relegation at the end of the season.

“We are not going to be relegated and today [yesterday] we played very well and we could have won by more than eight goals had we been more sharp in front of goal, but we need to build on the confidence and improve our performance in our next encounter,” said Saruchera.

His opposite Joseph Takaringofa could not hide his disappointment of a poor show by his side. He partially blamed the first goal to the bumpy pitch.

“We complained of the pitch before the game as it is bumpy. We had to rely on long balls but do not know what came into his [Chakoroma] head that time and the bounce deceived him and they capitalised on it,” said Takaringofa.

Our correspondent in Gweru, Mukudzei Chingwere, reports that ZPC Kariba ended their six-match winless run as they collected their first set of maximum points at Ascot with a 2-1 victory over WhaWha yesterday.

The electricians came from behind with two second half goals from Dennis Dauda and Russell Madamombe that outweighed Sylvester Nhamo’s first half strike.

The Kariba-based side has now collected four points out of a possible six under the tutelage of interim coach Oliver Matava who is holding fort for the suspended Saul Chaminuka.

After the match, Matava was happy with the result lauding his charges for a job well done, without hinting on prospects of being appointed on a permanent basis.

“I am happy with the result. The boys played well and managed to come from a goal down and win the match. This is again our first win here. As far as I am concerned, Chaminuka is suspended and is still in charge of the team,” said Matava.

Losing coach Lloyd Mutasa was disappointed with the result that has seen his charges concede eight times in two matches.

“Obviously, you would not want to concede so many goals but such is football, we have to move on.

“We gave them easy goals in what was a matter of lapse in concentration and they capitalised,” said Mutasa.