CAPS United bounce back

KADOMA – CAPS United coach Taurai Mangwiro believes players have resurrected their Castle Premiership title hopes following yesterday’s 1-0 victory over Black Rhinos at Rimuka Stadium.

Moses Muchenje secured the maximum points for the Green Machine through a first half penalty leaving Mangwiro a relieved man.

With yesterday’s win, Makepekepe moved into second place on the log with 42 points from 24 games and trail log leaders Dynamos — who play this afternoon against Shabanie Mine — by a single point.

This was United’s first win in three matches after they had played out consecutive goalless draws against Bantu Rovers and How Mine.

Those two disappointing results had threatened to derail Makepekepe’s title hopes and their fans had turned the heat on Mangwiro.

Following the draw with How Mine at Rufaro Stadium last week, the CAPS fans confronted Mangwiro trying to force him to resign before they were dispersed by police.

However, after yesterday’s match, Mangwiro was relieved that his side had collected maximum points to breathe life into their title challenge.

“We came here with a lot of turbulence in our camp. We needed to respond and I’m happy we got all three points today,” Mangwiro said after the match.

“I am happy with the performance of my boys. There was a fighting spirit today, you could see from the onset we dominated in every department which is good.

“We needed to grind a result and we did just that.

“It was very crucial for us to keeping in touching distance of the leading pack.

“Last week, we blew away a golden opportunity to close the gap on the log leaders.”

Mangwiro believes that the title race is still widely open with at least six games to go before the season ends.

“Today, I’m happy and I think we are still in the title race but as a team we need to remain focused because there are still many games to play before the end of the season,” said Mangwiro.

Black Rhinos remain in third position from bottom of the log standings with 27 points and need to start winning their remaining matches to save their Castle Premiership status.

Yesterday’s match started with CAPS on top of the situation but they failed to turn their dominance into goals in the first minutes of the game.

The visitors finally got the breakthrough in the first minute of added time at the end of the first half when they were awarded a penalty.

CAPS were awarded the spot kick after Black Rhinos defender Bruce Homora brought down forward Ishmael Thindwa inside the box.

The penalty decision appeared to be harsh as Homora appeared to have made contact with the ball first before bringing down the Malawian striker.

Muchenje, who is clinical from 12 yards out, made no mistake from the spot to give the Green Machine the lead heading into the halftime break. In the second period, the match swung from one end to another with both teams squandered a number of good scoring chances.

The soldiers thought they had equalised when Lot Chiwunga had the ball in the back of the net a minute from full time but the goal was disallowed for offside.

Makepekepe were however, able to hold on for the win and bounce back to winning ways. Daily News