Black Mambas . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0 Buffaloes . . . . . . . . . . . . .(0) 1 BUFFALOES coach Timothy Masachi enjoyed his first league win away from Sakubva stadium when beating a wasteful Black Mambas side in a Castle Lager Premier Soccer League match played at Morris Depot yesterday.
HENRY MHARA
Masachi was promoted to the coach position in June after the resignation of Saul Chaminuka, but he had struggled to get maximum points away from Mutare.
In the seven matches that he has overseen before yesterday’s rare win, Buffaloes won all the four home matches and lost three on the road.
In yesterday’s match, Lloyd Katongomara, a halftime substitute, bundled home a cross from the right as the away side also consolidated their ambitions of finishing in the top eight.
Following their win, Buffaloes moved to seventh position with 31 points, leapfrogging How Mine due to a superior goal difference.
As for Mambas, they are dicing with danger. The Police side are on 26 points, just four points above Black Rhinos, a team sitting on the relegation cut-off point.
“This is my first win away and it’s very precious for me. We have been winning at home, but struggling away so I’m very happy. We are pushing up on the log standings and I will be very happy if we can end up in the top four. I think we can achieve it if we continue picking points away from home,” said Masachi.
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Mambas coach John Ncube was disappointed by a number of numerous chances his side failed to put away.
“We created a lot of chances, but we did not convert them and at the end we lost the match. At the moment we are still safe, but we have to win our next assignment to be very sure,” said Ncube.
Mambas were clearly the better side of the two especially in the first half, but they were just wasteful.
The closest they came in scoring was after 23 minutes when Tendai Chinungo’s freekick hit the crossbar while Joseph Mutambiranwa also scuffed his effort when put through later in the first half.
They continued to create the better chances at the start of the second half with Godknows Mangani and Honey Chimutimunzeve failing to put away what looked like very easy chances.
Mambas would pay dearly for the missed chances when a Buffaloes rare attack was finished off by Katongomara.
The home side’s immediate response was to introduce striker Evans Gwekwerere and despite controlling much of the possession in that last quarter, they could not create a clear scoring chance for the former Dynamos man.
Buffaloes could have scored a second one with five minutes remaining when a swift counter attack saw three of their attackers came against two defenders, but Tawanda Mareya’s rasping shot hit the upright.
