Buffaloes . . . . . . . . .(1) 1 Chicken Inn . . . . . . (0)1 A spirited second half performance earned Chicken Inn a point in a Castle Lager Premier Soccer League encounter after they held Buffaloes to a one- all stalemate at Sakubva Stadium yesterday.
Report by Kenneth Nyangani Sports Correspondent
Guide Goddard earned the valuable point in the 57th minute cancelling out Tapiwa Mafunga’s 20th minute penalty.
Buffaloes assistant coach Sicho Masachi blamed referee Nkanyiso Moyo for poor officiating.
“We are not supposed to comment on such issues, but the referee of the day was biased especially in the second half. I think we also wasted many chances in the first half and we paid for that,” he said.
Chicken Inn coach Adam Ndlovu was generally happy with his side’s performance.
“I am happy that we collected a point away from home and my guys played very well. We conceded a silly penalty and that cost us, but in the second half we were a better side,’’ he said.
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In the first half of the match, the army side threatened to run away with the match, but Chicken Inn goalkeeper Liberty Chirava made crucial suicidal saves.
In the 12th minute the talented goalkeeper stopped a Prosper Matizanadzo header from the edge of the box and five minutes later, he shut out Michael Mageja’s shot from the edge of the box.
Then in the 20th minute, exciting midfielder Phillip Thembani was hacked down by Goddard from behind and the referee pointed to the spot.
Up stepped Tapiwa Mafunga to beat his opposite number, marking a return to first team action in 15 matches as the usual number one Hopeful Bere was nursing an injury.
In the 25th minute the army side could have increased theirgap, but Mageja failed to beat Chirava in a face-to-face situation.
After the break, the Bulawayo-based side took the match to their opponents and they were rewarded in the 57th minute through Goddard’s header.
Goddard was given marching orders late into the match after an infringement on Mafunga.
In the 85th minute, Mafunga made a brilliant save to deny Makhosi Ncube from a free-kick on the edge of the box.
