Scottland (0) 0
TelOne FC (0) 1
Panashe Mutasa’s wonder goal early in the second half condemned flamboyant side Scottland to their third defeat of the season at Rufaro Stadium yesterday.
Mutasa, picking up a loose ball wide on the right, delivered what appeared to be a cross, only for it to bypass goalkeeper Nelson Chadya and nestle into the net at the back post.
This marked Mutasa’s second goal in three games, following his crucial strike last weekend that ended GreenFuel’s unbeaten home run in Chisumbanje.
The victory propelled the WiFi Boys to third on the log standings, with 28 points at the halfway stage of the season.
They now trail log leaders MWOS FC by six points, though MWOS FC still has a game in hand today.
TelOne coach Herbert Maruwa expressed his delight with the win over one of the league’s top teams.
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“It was a good game from the boys. They were able to get the points from Scottland’s side. Our game plan worked. We knew they were going to wait for us to make a mistake, so I told my guys to make sure to clear our lines well. It worked, we scored and managed to defend as a team,” he stated.
For Scottland, means they have just one victory in their last five games, excluding their abandoned tie against Chicken Inn.
Pressure continues to mount on coach Tonderai Ndiraya as his star-studded side struggles for consistent results. They currently sit in fourth place with 27 points from 16 matches.
Ndiraya attributed the defeat to fixture congestion, with his team playing three matches in an eight-day span.
“Today, we did very well. In terms of chance creation, I thought in the first half we were supposed to score a couple of goals. We got chances that we couldn’t put away. So in football, if you don’t take your chances, that's difficult. The other team got their chance and scored. So basically, that's it,” Ndiraya explained after the match.
He added: “I’m proud of the boys, the way they put in the shift today. If you consider how we tried to manage recovery, we played here on Sunday and travelled to Chisumbanje for a Wednesday fixture. We came back on Thursday and played through the day. So if you look at the time in between the fixtures and the recovery period, it was very difficult for our players to get into the best possible physical shape. However, under those circumstances, we saw some good energy from the players.”
The early exchanges were balanced, but TelOne crafted the best chance of the first half when Nigel Makumbe forced a brilliant save from Chadya with a spectacular long-range shot five minutes before the break.
