TSHOLOTSHO . . . (1) 1 WHAWHA . . . 0
UGLY scenes erupted at White City Stadium as Tsholotsho FC snatched the important three points in the quest to survive relegation when they edged visiting WhaWha in an uninspiring Castle Lager Premier Soccer League match yesterday.
BY FORTUNE MBELE
The solitary goal that decided the match was scored by defender Thandolwenkosi Ncube, who beat WhaWha goalkeeper Polite Sibanda inside the penalty box from a Joel Luphahla corner-kick in the 29th minute.
But the second half turned ugly in the 81st minute as a scuffle ensued between WhaWha and Tsholotsho officials, with the visitors accusing the hosts of hiding match balls.
The scuffle took place on the Tsholotsho FC’s bench and referee Mlindeli Ndebele had to stop the match for three minutes to allow tempers to cool down.
Before that, WhaWha had complained to the fourth official Tambudzai Tavengwa that the ball boys were playing delaying tactics and they had to be ejected from the pitch.
WhaWha coach Lloyd Mutasa conceded defeat, but said he would not comment much about what transpired “There are certain things that you don’t have control of and that frustrated my boys and such is Zimbabwean football,” he said. We conceded a soft goal and we could not score.”
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His counterpart Lizwe Sweswe was happy with the three points.
“It is good because the boys were not complacent and we got three points, that is what we wanted. We are still fighting relegation, but the three points are valuable. We have to soldier on,” Sweswe said.
WhaWha could have equalised in the 55th minute, but Nelson Maziwisa failed to score when he came face-to-face with Tsholotsho goalkeeper Nickel Marichi and was subsequently penalised for a foul on the shot-stopper.
With the three points — their fifth win of the season — Tsholotsho are now on 26 points and rode over Buffaloes on a superior goal difference to land on position 12 with four matches to go, while WhaWha remained second from the bottom with 20 points.
Buffaloes host Hwange at Sakubva Stadium this afternoon.
