Hippo Valley lose

Sport
ZIMBABWE men representatives in the Hockey Africa Cup of Club Champions Tournament Hippo Valley lost their second match of the tournament when they went down to Egypt Police at Khumalo Hockey Stadium yesterday

Hippo Valley . . . . (0) 1 Egypt Police . . . . (2) 3

SUKOLUHLE MTHETHWA SPORTS REPORTER ZIMBABWE men representatives in the Hockey Africa Cup of Club Champions Tournament Hippo Valley lost their second match of the tournament when they went down to Egypt Police at Khumalo Hockey Stadium yesterday.

Going into yesterday’s match Hippo Valley had won two, drawn one and lost once.

Egypt Police went ahead in the 22nd minute through a well taken field goal by Sayed Amr who caught the Hippo Valley defence napping.

Five minutes later, Egypt Police went two-up after a field goal by Ossman Mandor.

Hippo Valley tried to get back into the match, but were not precise in front of goal.

As Hippo Valley were still searching for a goal, Egypt Police capitalised on a short corner.

Hippo Valley goalkeeper Tinavo Mushavi blocked the initial shot, but it was not enough as Badr Hasham made it three in the 55th minute.

Hippo Valley got several chances in the second half, but the Egypt Police defence was equal to the task. The home side finally scored in the 60th minute.

Tendai Maredza’s pass found Arnold Mpofu who converted through a field goal.

Egypt Police manager Mahmood Tobar said they were happy with the result although Hippo Valley had given them a challenge.

“The match against Hippo Valley was good. I am happy that we have collected the three points. My team played well. It was a tough match, but we are now looking foward to our match against Trustees tomorrow (today).

“Hippo Valley is a good side. It was just bad luck. They play well,” he said.

Hippo Valley coach Tongai Mukwewa blamed the loss on failure to bury chances.

“We failed to win the match because we did not utilise chances that we got.

“We failed to put away several chances that came our way. We could have changed the complexion of the game had we done that.

“The fighting spirit should continue untill the end. What we need to do is to play more tournaments with such teams. That would help us to play even better,” he said.

In other matches, Trustees from Ghana thumped Genetrix from Malawi 16-0 in the men’s category. However, it was a different story for Malawian women’s side Genetrix who lost 5-0 to Sharkia from Egypt while Orange from Kenya beat Heartlands from Nigeria 4-1. The matches continue today with the tournament expected to end on Sunday.