MWOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (0) 1
MANICA DIAMONDS . . . . . . . .(1) 1
A HUGELY disputed second half penalty goal scored by Salif Cheya earned MWOS a point against Manica Diamonds at Ngoni Stadium as the league debutants returned to the top of the premier league log standings.
Ask Rupande’s long range effort gave Manica Diamonds a 17th minute lead, a goal which looked to give the Manicaland-based side their first victory in five matches.
But two late controversial decisions by matchday referee Tichaona Mbire denied them the victory, leaving coach Jairosi Tapera fuming.
Mbire awarded the hosts a controversial 80th minute penalty after a clearance hit the Brett Amidu’s elbow, with his hand seemingly tucked into his body.
Strong protests from the visitors failed to change the referee’s decision.
After a lengthy stoppage, Cheya stepped up to send goalkeeper Tedius Baye the wrong way.
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Manica Diamonds’ sense of injustice was fuelled eight minutes later when Nigel Mupinduki’s goal was flagged for an offside.
The away side felt Mupinduki was in an onside position as the ball deflected off MWOS defender Tafadzwa Nyabunze before it reached the attacker, who finished smartly
The result means MWOS returned to the top of the log standings with 19 points, one above defending champions Simba Bhora, who had assumed control of the race 24 hours earlier after beating Kwekwe on Wednesday.
Tapera, the Manica Diamonds coach, felt his side was undone by the match officials’ decisions.
“They get the penalty, but the guy who was judged to have touched the ball was facing the other side, with his back to the guy who cleared the ball and it hit his hand,” Tapera complained.
“He had no control of it. I need to be convinced and I have to look at it again because it was on TV. Then on the offside call, their defender flicked the ball, which meant they had put our player onside.
“We scored it, but the match ended 1-1. I need to watch it on TV and be convinced that all these two goals were genuinely our fault or they were genuinely a fault of somebody else.”
MWOS coach Lloyd Mutasa was relieved that his side managed to claw back into the match to earn a valuable point.
More crucially, the result pushed the debutants’ unbeaten run at the start of the league to nine matches.
“I think we started a bit slow. We gave them room to play in the first half,” Mutasa said.
“They scored from what we thought was an avoidable goal situation. But such is football, you make such mistakes. I am happy the youngsters were very resolute.
“They fought to the death and we managed to get a point. We are now top of the log and remember, every time you play, if you are on top of the log, everyone wants to beat you, everyone wants to break the jinx.”
He added: “So they are coming to us, and I am sure this is a statement to us as a team, that every team that we play against, we need to give it our all.”
The draw stretched Manica Diamonds’ winless run to four matches as they dropped to ninth position on the log standings with 13 points.
Teams
MWOS: M Mapisa, T Nyabunze, V Katsande, I Zambezi, M Murambiwa, T Mutyambizi, T George, M Mudzuka, B Veremu (J Makangira, 66’), C Mapoka (S Cheya, 45’), N Mutinha
Manica Diamonds: T Baye, L Masibera, A Rupande, D Chipo, F Banda, J Takunda, R Pavari, N Mupinduki, E Paga (F Binzi, 60’), B Amidu, C Teguru.
