NGEZI Platinum Stars coach Tonderai Ndiraya has lamented a controversial decision by Zambian referee Wellington Kaoma to disallow a late Terrence Dzvukamanja’s goal, in their 2-1 loss to Recreativo do Libolo in a Caf Confederation Cup first round, first leg encounter in Calulo on Saturday.
By Daniel Nhakaniso in Luanda, Angola
Substitute Dzvukamanja looked to have secured a deserved draw when he tapped home a low cross from Godknows Murwira past the Recreativo do Libolo goalkeeper Landu in the 89th minute.
But Kaoma ruled him offside, although television replays showed that Dzvukamanja was not off side when Murwira crossed the ball inside the box.
The controversial decision to disallow the goal was a bitter blow for Ngezi, who had shown character after Recreativo do Libolo had stormed into an early lead from a 12th minute header by two-goal hero Brazilian Fabricio.
“I thought it was a good match, the two teams played really well, but sadly what was a good spectacle for the fans was spoiled by some questionable decisions by the referee one of which ended up deciding the match,” Ndiraya told NewsDaySport after the match.
“I thought we deserved to come out of the match with at least a draw, but unfortunately, the referees thought otherwise. That’s African football and it’s something that we will have to get used to when we play away from home.”
Ndiraya said he was pleased with the way his charges stuck to their defensive patterns in open play, but admitted that there was still room for improvement, especially when dealing with set pieces.
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Ngezi conceded both goals from set piece situations, with Fabricio opening his team’s scoring with a header from the far post after connecting an in swinging free kick from Kaya.
The gangly striker was yet again on hand to restore his team’s lead in the 54th minute with a close range header from an in-swinging delivery from a short corner by Kaya.
“Knowing that we were playing a good side obviously we came into the match with a defensive mind-set and I thought we defended very well in open play, but I’m not happy with the fact that we conceded both goals from set pieces. We had an opportunity to watch videos of some of their recent matches before today’s encounter and we discovered that they thrive on set pieces, especially in-swingers. I’m disappointed that we were not able to deal with a problem we had prepared for during training and we could not implement our plans during the game situation, but that is part of the game.”
Ndiraya said he was confident his charges would finish the job in the second leg at the National Sports Stadium on Saturday to progress to the second round of the competition.
“The way we finished the match obviously gives us a lot of confidence ahead of the second leg and I’m confident we will be able to get the a positive result at home which will probably take us through to the next round. We will have to put in a solid performance in all aspects of the game for us to progress to the next round,” he said.
