A COSTLY error by Bantu Rovers goalkeeper Brighton Chipula brought an otherwise out-of-sorts Dynamos back into the game to collect maximum points in a Castle Lager Premier Soccer League match at Barbourfields Stadium yesterday.
Fortune Mbele Sports Reporter Bantu Rovers . . . . . . . . . (1) 1 Dynamos . . . . . . . . . . . . . (0) 3
Skipper Nqobizitha Masuku put the Bantu Rovers in the lead 13 minutes into the game and they held on to that goal. Chipula’s moment of madness came in the 60th minute when he tried to be stylish and chest down a harmless looking ball from Dynamos midfielder Stephen Alimenda.
But in his uncalled-for antics, Chipula conceded a corner from which Dynamos equalised with a Sydney Linyama header in the 61st minute. That goal demoralised Bantu Rovers who had a played a better game than the champions in the first half.
Dynamos’ three goals were scored inside six minutes after Linyama’s header and all credit goes to defender Partson Jaure, who realised that penetrating Bantu Rovers was not an easy task and the two goals came from his long-searching balls from the back.
A long clearance by Jaure in the 63rd minute found Washington Pakamisa, who played the ball to outstanding Tafadzwa Rusike.
Rusike then sent Cliff Sekete through and the latter skilfully pushed the ball with a side foot past Chipula to put DeMbare in the lead.
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Three minutes later, Jaure sent in another long ball which fell on Pakamisa who released Devon Chafa to blast the ball past Chipula and send the Dynamos fans into wild celebrations on the Mpilo end. Bantu Rovers head coach Methembe Ndlovu played down Chipula’s blunder and said they lost as a team.
“We are obviously disappointed. I thought we had prepared well. But we were always under pressure from the start. We lose as a team and we win as a team. The first goal was from a throw-in that we thought belonged to us, but was given to Dynamos and it resulted in that corner-kick and that happens in football,” Ndlovu said.
It was Dynamos’ second set of three points at Barbourfields Stadium in their third match after they beat How Mine 1-0 in the first match before losing to new boys ZPC Kariba.
Coach Kalisto Pasuwa admitted that they played second fiddle to Bantu Rovers in the first half, but came back into the game in the second stanza.
“We played second to the ball and they dominated in the first half, but we came in good in the second half. The pressure was there coming from two consecutive defeats. Now we have to psyche up the boys to start winning at home and the victory gives us the confidence,” Pasuwa said.
Dynamos had come into the game more on the offensive with a one-man Rusike show as he troubled Lawson Nkomo on the left flank, but his efforts were not complemented by Oscar Machapa and Pakamisa, with the former not following on the flow of the game. Machapa was pulled out for Sekete in the 28th minute.
After Bantu Rovers got their goal, they outplayed their opponents with Masuku, Tafadzwa Kutinyu, Bukhosi Sibanda and Fortune Ncube having a field day in the centre.
But the substitution of Sibanda and Sizalobuhle Dube did not work out for Bantu Rovers as their replacements Obadiah Tarumbwa and Moses Majika were out of the game.
Teams Bantu Rovers: B Chipula, L Nkomo, E Tshuma, P Zireni, Z Ngodzo, E Dube, F Ncube, N Masuku, B Sibanda (M Majika 53rd minute), T Kutinyu, S Dube (O Tarumbwa 46th minute)
Dynamos: A Mukandi, P Jaure, T Ndlovu, S Linyama, A Mbara, S Alimenda, D Chafa, O Machapa (C Sekete 28th minute), T Rusike (S Sithole 88th minute), W Pakamisa (F Mupasiri 86th minute), Anesu Gondo
