BLACK RHINOS . . . . . . . . . (1)3 Highlanders . . . . . . . . . . . 0
ARIEL Sibanda was the fall guy, as Highlanders fell to in-form army side, Black Rhinos in their heaviest defeat of the campaign — in a Castle Lager Premier Soccer match at Morris Depot Stadium yesterday.
BY TAWANDA TAFIRENYIKA
The victory temporarily lifted Black Rhinos to the summit of the log standings.
Bosso coach, Erol Akbay laid the blame on Sibanda and his defence for the first two goals, which he said were soft and could have been avoided.
Black Rhinos striker, Lot Chiungwa was the destroyer-in-chief, after he scored a brace and then earned a penalty converted by goalkeeper, Herbert Rusawo, who hit the roof of the net for the army side to sew up the contest.
Bosso could have been 1-0 down on the quarter hour, but towering defender Sidney Linyama’s header was cleared off the line by Rahman Kutsanzira, with goalkeeper, Sibanda guilty of ball watching.
Highlanders, though, were dominant in the first half, but ultimately failed to translate that into goals, with Prince Dube missing a good opportunity when his shot from an acute angle was kept out by Rusawo on 23 minutes.
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Four minutes later, the Highlanders forward breached the Black Rhinos defence, but the ball was cleared behind by the army side captain, Bruce Homura.
Ralph Matema also came close on 41 minutes following a wonderful delivery from the right by Dube.
However, Bosso found themselves a goal down on 43 minutes, with Chiunga, planting a downward header into the nets off a cross from defender, James Mukombwe.
In the second half, Akbay made a change, bringing on Eric Mudzingwa in place of Tendai Ngulube.
However, two minutes later, Black Rhinos doubled the lead after Sibanda spilled a shot from James Mukombwe into Chiungwa’s path, who had the simple task of side-footing the ball into the nets.
Still, Highlanders refused to throw in the towel, with Dube keeping the army side’s defence busy.
The home team were awarded a penalty on 70 minutes after Simon Munawa was adjudged to have illegally brought down Chiungwa, as he raced through on goal in the penalty area.
And Rusawo took the responsibility, of beating Sibanda.
An elated Black Rhinos coach, Stanford “Stix” Mtizwa said he was happy with the victory.
“I am happy with the victory particularly against a big team. I thought the boys would struggle after the break, but they maintained the momentum. I watched Highlanders play Dynamos. They want to build from the back, so our game plan was to press them and force them to resort to high balls. I am happy it worked because they didn’t play their normal game,” he said.
Akbay said his charges were doing everything right except scoring. “We created chances, but the problem is scoring. Of course, I blame Sibanda and the defence for conceding the first two goals,” he said.
