Chiefs cement lead, Ntabazinduna assault referee
A BRACE from captain Moses Majika ensured Bulawayo Chiefs keep one hand on the Southern Region Division One championship as they beat Bosso90 2-1 at Hartsfield Rugby Ground yesterday.
Chiefs, who won the championship in 2013 but opted against playing in the Premiership, had a dominant performance in the first half which they used to score both goals but struggled in the second half as Bosso came back a rejuvenated side and threatened to put spanners into the log leaders’ title chances.
At the other end of the city at Luveve Stadium, Bantu Rovers edged ZPC Hwange 1-0 with the goal from Jileni Nsingo to keep up the pressure on Chiefs who have a two point lead. However, with one match to go the former Premiership side, who spent the better part of the season at the apex of the log, would be praying for a miracle that Chiefs lose to Ntabazinduna and they win their last fixture against Amagagasi away.
Victoria Falls-based Amagagasi fell 1-0 to Indlovu Iyanyathela, a result that saw their dream of bringing Premiership action to the resort town going up in smoke as they remain third and are now five points behind Chiefs who have amassed 63 points.
Bosso90 were restricted to their half for the better part of the first half as Chiefs indicated their intention to overrun the debutants but were kept at bay by the visitors’ defence.
Majika, however, breached the well marshalled defence with six minutes remaining before the interval when Ashton Mhlanga crossed the ball into the box from the right flank allowing his captain to give them the lead with a shot. Five minutes later Majika scrambled in the second goal giving Chiefs hold of the match.
Bosso came back a determined side from the break an indication that Chiefs won’t ride rough shod over them.
The visitors were rewarded in the 51st minute when they utilised a free kick they received on the left flank with Percy Maphosa pulling one back.
Chiefs coach, Thulani “Thuts” Sibanda felt his side is yet to wrap up the championship and have to be alert in their last game against Ntabazinduna.
“It’s still game on, we can’t rule out the Ntabazinduna game, we have to fight for the remaining three points because if we lose it could mean ending on position two,” he said.
Despite the confusion over the promotion format into the Premiership following a resolution to change from the initially agreed two teams to four teams, the race will go to the wire as the teams slug it out for the championship.
Meanwhile, violence and indiscipline reared its ugly head once again in the Zifa Southern Region Division One after relegation threatened Ntabazinduna players and officials threateningly charged at referee Saidi Phiri in protest against his decision to expel their goalkeeper, George Zuze for dissent towards the end of the first half in a match against Talen Vision at White City Stadium.
The players mobbed the referee and were joined by hordes of officials, substitutes, technical team and supporters resulting in a 10-minute stoppage.
As if that was not enough another official of the prison team walked into the field of play and grabbed a match ball in protest against the referee’s decision to show a Ntabazinduna player a straight red card after he lunged at impressive Talen Vision right back Bret Ndlovu deep inside the second half.
Play was stopped for about five minutes as the two police women doing duty at the match venue and some officials whisked the official off the field. The prison team which was already trailing 2-1 waited for the momentous occasion for the match official to blow the whistle for the end of the match to attack him.