HARARE CITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (1) 1 NGEZI PLATINUM STARS . . . .(0) 0 HARARE City needed a bit of help from the referee Josiah Masimira, who denied visitors Ngezi Platinum what seemed a genuine penalty late in the game, to record a second consecutive win in a Castle Lager Premier Soccer League encounter at Rufaro on Sunday.
BY MUNYARADZI MADZOKERE
Warriors’ fringe player Edwin Madhanhanga scored the solitary goal that settled an evenly balanced contest on the stroke of half time.
With Ngezi Platinum piling pressure to restore parity, defender Chrispen Dickson hacked down striker Donald Teguru two yards into the box in the 87th minute.
Masimira pulled back the incident scene and gave a freekick on the edge of the box, much to the roar of disapproval by the Ngezi supporters as well as the neutral in attendance.
However, the visitors coach Tonderai Ndiraya refused to lay blame on the referee for his side’s loss.
“The referee is in charge, so we can’t control that, but I thought that was a penalty. I don’t know what the referees think, but I thought that was inside the box and that should have been a penalty. But it’s only that call. We had so many opportunities to score, so to now want to blame the referees on the defeat is unfair,” he said.
Harare City coach Moses Chunga admitted that his charges did not play well, although he expressed joy that they still managed to collect maximum points yesterday.
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The platinum miners were unlucky to lose their best player of the day, Tichaona Mabvura, through injury with 10 minutes left to play in the opening half.
Mabvura was casting darkness on the Sunshine City defence each time he was in possession and on the run in search of a goal.
He could have given Ngezi the lead in the 12th minute with a stinging shot from outside the box, which Tafadzwa Dube fumbled before the defence cleared the ball.
The nimble-footed midfielder was clear on goal a few minutes later, but Dexter Mawere produced a well-timed tackle to thwart him and he fell awkwardly to injure his wrist.
He tried to continue playing with the injury, but had to be eventually substituted.
The goal then came in on the stroke of the first half when Madhanhanga rose majestically to nod home a precisely weighted Raphael Manuvire free-kick, their first shot on target.
TEAMS Harare City: T Dube, C Dickson, H Chapusha, T Chimwemwe, D Mawere, J Jam, W Manondo, E Madhanhanga, M Vengesai, R Manuvire (T Tumba 78’), J Chipangura, (H Chimutimunzeve 72’)
Ngezi Platinum: C Mverechena, Z Mhanda, B Madzokere, T Chamboko, K Machona, J Marufu, E Tapera, T Mabvura (J Nguluve 35’), W Mukanga, E Katema (W Pakamisa 55), D Teguru
