By Dumisani Nsingo
Bulawayo City ………………………………………………0
Black Rhinos…………………………………………… (1) 1
A solitary goal by Lot Chiunga was all that Black Rhinos needed to dispatch a struggling Bulawayo City in a Castle Lager Premier match at Barbourfields Stadium yesterday.
The visiting army side started the match on a lively note and it took them only three minutes to test Takudzwa Ndoro in goals for City when he dived full stretch to his left to smother a pile driver by Masimba Mambare after he was set up by Chiunga on the edge of the 18 yard box.
In the 14th minute Mambare was to turn provider after he sent Chiunga through with a defence splitting pass to beat an outdrawn Ndoro.
City’s first attempt at goal came in the 40th minute when Toto Banda reacted slowly to connect his shot inside the 18 yard box and had his shot blocked by a Rhinos defender after being set up by striker Ishmael Wadi.
The army side totally outclassed the hosts with man-of-the-match Mambare initiating the attacks in the middle of the park.
Amakhosi as City are affectionately known could have levelled the scores from a quick counter attack but Banda blasted his effort over the bar after being set up by Wadi inside the 18 area.
In the 59th minute Rhinos’ goalkeeper Ashley Rayners made a stunning save when he dived to his left to save a free kick from Tatenda Tavengwa.
Amakhosi continued to pin the visitors inside their own half and in the 73rd Muyendi’s header missed the upright.
The home team continued to pile pressure on the visitors but it was all in vain and in the end it was to be their second loss on the trot.
Rhinos coach Hebert Maruwa praised his lads for playing according to the technical team’s plan.
“It was a difficult match but we managed to get all the three points and since we were coming from a defeat (in our last game) our game plan was to defend and hit them on the break and get an early goal and we managed to do that,” he said.
Dodo blamed the loss on his team to complacency and failure to click in midfield.
“We were very bad in the first half and we did not play the way we wanted to, we were very elaborate especially in the middle of the park, when going forward we were leaving a lot of gaps and our opponents capitalised on those to score and to make it worse our central midfield appeared to be non-existent,” he said.
Dodo said going forward the team would work on improving its conversion rate as it was creating a lot of chances but failing to score. The Sunday News
