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21 April 2008
By Edward Marange (Sports Editor)
Manchester City 3- Portsmouth 1
In a week President Robert Mugabe stole the headlines for shamelessly trying to rig an election he lost, Manchester City striker Benjani Mwaruwari put Zimbabwe on the map for all the right reasons.
The £7 million buy from Portsmouth put in a man-of the match display that propelled Manchester City to a 3-1 thumping of his former team. Benjani created the first goal before bustling through the Pompey defence in the second half to score his team's third goal.
City's first goal owed everything to Benjani's work rate and commitment. A mix-up between Sol Campbell and David James allowed Benjani to ghost in from behind, nick the ball away before laying it to Stephen Ireland whose shot cum pass found Darrius Vassel. The former England striker duly slid the ball into the net.
Martin Petrov scored the second before Nigerian John Utaka brought Portsmouth back into the game. The Fratton Park outfit struggled to deal with Benjani's physical play all afternoon and duly paid the price towards the end.
Benjani worked his way into the penalty before unleashing an early shot that caught England keeper David James by surprise. To his credit Benjani refused to celebrate the goal against his former club out of respect. Pompey supporters adored the Zimbabwean during his time in the South Coast.
Sports commentators could not help but admire Benjani's all round work and display. He was duly voted the Barlcays Man of the Match and given a bottle of champagne live on Sky Sports after the match. edward@nehandaradio.com
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