Yadah survive, Chicken Inn win

Sport
Premier league debutants Yadah FC snatched a draw from the jaws of defeat to visiting Hwange, thanks to some controversial officiating by referee Ruzive Ruzive in the first of the two matches played at the National Sports Stadium yesterday.

Yadah FC . . (1) 2 Hwange . . . (0) 2

Harare City . . . (0) 0 Chicken Inn . . . (1) 1

Premier league debutants Yadah FC snatched a draw from the jaws of defeat to visiting Hwange, thanks to some controversial officiating by referee Ruzive Ruzive in the first of the two matches played at the National Sports Stadium yesterday.

By Munyaradzi Madzokere

Hwange coach Nation Dube appeals against the referees decision to the fourth official in vain during yesterday's match against Yadah FC at the National Sports Stadium
Hwange coach Nation Dube appeals against the referees decision to the fourth official in vain during yesterday’s match against Yadah FC at the National Sports Stadium

Hwange had done well to bounce back from a goal down in the first half to steal a 2-1 lead courtesy of goal from veterans Gilbert Zulu and Obert Moyo before Ruzive ignored his far side assistant’s flag when Tafadzwa Dude handled the ball outside his goal area as the hosts went on to equalize from the resultant clearance.

There was barely two minutes between Moyo’s brilliant 87th minutes freekick which gave Hwange the lead and the controversial incident that preceded the equaliser by Yadah FC.

The incident potentially robbed the Nation Dube-coached coal miners of their first win in eight matches as they languish in 16th position on the log standings.

Dube was left aggrieved by the incident.

“I think we could have won this match. When we led and my boys were really attacking that goal then something happened and that something changed the complexion of the game. Now we have to get a draw from a situation I think I have to watch again because if the lines man lifted his flag and the referees tell him to put it down, then I don’t know,” lamented Dube.

“It’s a bad result for us because we are at the bottom of the log and we don’t belong there. This is one of the games where we thought we were going to begin our revival,” he added.

Jairos Tapera’s Miracle Boys had a far much better first half in which they took the lead through a Morris Musiyakuvi goal at the back post from a Leeroy Mavhunga cross before the half hour mark.

Yadah FC clung on to the league until the 70th minute when Zulu took adavantage of slack marking in the box to slot the ball home past Tafadzwa Dube.

Eight minutes later, Tafadzwa Dube seemed to have lost the match for the hosts after Moyo’s low freekick from angle outside sneaked in at the near post.

Soon after that, Hwange sought to take control of the match as Tafadzwa Dube handled the ball outside the penalty box after rushing out of his goal line.

The assistant referee on the far side waved his flag up as Dube quickly cleared the ball and Rusive opting to follow play.

Brian Chikwinya then gatherd the loose ball in the Hwange box to score a highly-contested goal and give the hosts a lifeline.

“I think it was a poor match by our standards. Defensively, we were just not there, our goalkeeper I could say he was not himself but at least we scored two goals,” Tapera said.

In the other match, former champions Chicken Inn notched up their fifth straight away win in the league, with midfielder Innocent Mucheneka getting the all-important goal against struggling Harare City.

The GameCocks have lost only once in seven matches on the road and the solitary defeat coming in a Bulawayo derby against Bulawayo City in April.