CAPS United and ZPC Kariba bounced back from defeats from their last league games with a share of spoils at the National Sports Stadium yesterday in a Castle Lager Premier Soccer League match the home side dominated and perhaps deserved a little bit more than what they got.
BY HENRY MHARA
CAPS UNITED . . . . . . . . . . .(1) 1 ZPC KARIBA . . . . . . . . . . . . (1) 1
The visitors got themselves in front with a breakaway goal, with Raphael Manuvire finishing off a neatly worked passing move with a low shot past Caps goalkeeper Chris Mverechena.
But the Mark Harrison-coached side replied in equally spectacular fashion when midfielder Gerald Phiri scored straight from a corner-kick. Harrison said he was disappointed that his side couldn’t finish off the numerous chances they created, especially in the second half when they were clearly on top of the situation.
“I’m gutted that we didn’t win the game because we created so many good chances, not half chances, but I mean goal chances and we could have won the game by 5-1 I think,” said Harrison.
“They (ZPC Kariba) tried to hit us on a break in the first half and they scored, but we regrouped and in the last 15 minutes and we dominated the second half.
“We should start scoring goals. The good thing is we are creating chances. The negative is we have to finish off those chances. When we go back to training next week, we will have to work on our finishing and a little bit more concentration when we get into the box. I’m disappointed because we could have won by a country mile. But that is football, we have to continue to push hard but I’m disappointed we dropped two points today.”
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ZPC Kariba assistant coach Godfrey Tamirepi was frank in his assessment of the match, admitting they got away with it. “The most important thing I’m happy with is a point we got away from home, but the performance was not actually good. We couldn’t string more than three passes together and we were losing possession unnecessarily during the first half and the second as well. We should have utilised the few chances we created but we didn’t and we were very fortunate at the end of the day,” he said.
Caps United made all the running in the opening minutes of the match with the visitors barely venturing forward, but that proved irrelevant as Manuvire and Artwell Nyamiwa exchanged passes in the box following a counter attack before the former blasted home just after the quarter hour mark. ZPC’s joy was almost short-lived, but Moses Muchenje was denied by his teammate when his shot from a short range found the back of Crispen Machisi and was cleared off for a corner.
Caps would feel hard-done by the match officials when a Stephen Makatuka header from the resultant kick appeared to have crossed the line for a goal but the referee had none of it.
But as the match inched towards the halftime break, Caps restored parity in excellent fashion when Malawian Phiri curled home straight from the corner, although defender Makatuka claimed credit for the goal in as far as his celebration to the equaliser was concerned.
The goal gave Caps an even more lift as they finished the half strongly and emerged from the break with more intent. Caps striker Roderick Mutuma was presented with his side’s first real chance on 78th minute, but somehow scooped high from a good range following a clever cut-back from substitute Leonard Fiyado.
Another second-half substitute Kudzai Nyamupfukudza tried to conjure a chance for the home side minutes later, but his shot brought the best out of ZPC Kariba goalkeeper Tendai Zvaita.
Ronald Pfumbidzai tried his luck from range, but Zvaita was comfortable in dealing with the effort before Mutuma wasted another good chance from a free-kick late on as the two sides settled for a share of spoils.
Teams CAPS UNITED — C Mverechena, H Zvirekwi, R Pfumbidzai, C Munzambwa, S Makatuka, D Mukandi, M Muchenje, G Phiri (R Mutova, 84’), R Mutuma, C Machisi (L Fiyado, 68′), T Mahori (K Nyamupfukudza, 76′). ZPC KARIBA — T Zvaita, S Sheshe, D Phiri, G Magariro, S Appiah, T Munyanduri, P Tafirenyika, C Mukanhairi (D Dauda, 56’), A Nyamiwa (R Madamombe, 74′), R Manuvire, D Chikupe.
