AS the referee blew to end the match at Rufaro, Lloyd Mutasa punched the air in delight and embraced every member of the team on the technical bench. He then walked briskly onto the pitch to congratulate the rest of the team. He was clearly relieved. After going for seven matches without tasting a win, this result was long overdue.
BY TAWANDA TAFIRENYIKA Dynamos . . . . . . . . (0) 2 Bulawayo CITY . . . (0) 1
The Dynamos coach has been aware of the knives which were being sharpened against him following a spate of dreadful results, which had left his side languishing at the foot of the table with a paltry three points from a possible 21.
Here, he had to win. But his team had a sluggish first half, in which his lads were dominated by Bulawayo City.
To their credit, Dynamos responded brilliantly in the second half, which they capped with two quick goals to seal the victory, their first of the campaign.
Unlike in the last few games, luck was also on their side. They could have been a goal down in the opening minute of the game after conceding a penalty when Marshall Machazane handled the ball in the penalty area.
When Ishmael Wadi, stepped up to take the penalty, there was a deafening silence among the Dynamos supporters, as they appeared to sense that this was going to be another heart break.
Fortunately for them, Wadi’s effort crashed against the cross bar, to give the home team a lifeline.
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The Glamour Boys however, struggled to stitch passes, with Timothy January and Wadi causing problems in the danger zone.
Dynamos also missed some opportunities with Quality Kangadzi guilty of a miss on 22 minutes after a set up by Kudzanai Dhemere.
The Harare giants, however, came into the second half a rejuvenated side with Cleophas Kapupurika’s introduction on 51st minute changing the complexion of the game.
James Marufu drilled a low shot that beat the goalkeeper Wellington Muuya, profiting from a clever dummy by Kuda Kumwala on 71 minutes.
But the lead proved temporary as Bulawayo City levelled matters a minute later through substitute Nhlanhla Ndlovu. Still DeMbare looked determined to wrap it up and Blessing Moyo scored the insurance goal from a free kick just outside the box on 77 minutes after a foul on Marufu.
Mutasa was pleased with the result.
“We are a bit relieved. I am sure it has been long overdue. But we are still in the murky waters. It wasn’t an easy match, you know coming from these draws and defeats it’s not easy to grind out a victory.
“I think it can probably add confidence to these young boys, if we train hard I think we will get these kind of results. I think these young stars fought to get it, I hope we will do the same in the upcoming games.
“I think the good part is that these young stars showed character and confidence despite considering a penalty in the opening minutes. They missed it, we managed to get a goal and they equalised and we went on to score again and I think for now I won’t ask for more.
“We can’t talk of relief considering the number of games we have played so far but it creates positivity and boost the team’s confidence. We still have more work to do.”
“Bulawayo City coach Darlington Dodo was disappointed and blamed his goalkeeper Muuya for the defeat. He, however, remained hopeful of surviving relegation.
“It is very disappointing, but I think we had a good game plan. We did what we wanted. If you look at the way we started from the word go, we got a penalty within one and a half minutes and it showed the intent of getting an early goal. When you get a penalty in those minutes and you miss, probably that was going to be the turning point of the game because the whole of first half, we didn’t give them much space to play. We dominated and we still kept on missing chances, it was unfortunate. If you look at the second half, the goalkeeper let us down, I don’t think he should have conceded those goals. They were scored from deep in midfield. We will try and work around and correct the errors that we noted today. We will regroup and try to get results in the next matches.”
Teams:
Dynamos: T Mateyaunga, B Moyo, E Mandiranga, (P Makaha 60’)G Mukambi, O Mwerahari, J Marufu, K Dhemere (M Mukumba 59), M Machazani, K Kumwala, Q Kangadzi, P Mutasa (C Kapupurika 51’)
Bulawayo City: W Muuya, C Ncube, Z Sibanda, I Wadi,(C Rupiya 69’), E Mudzingwa, T Tavengwa, H Ncube, S Ndlovu, J Kaunda, (T Ndlovu 60’),T January, M Sibanda (N Ndlovu 60’)
