BY DEPUTY SPORTS EDITOR
Herentals………………(2) 3
Ngezi Platinum Stars… (0) 0
HERENTALS coach Kumbirai Mutiwekuziva was full of praises for his team’s fighting spirit after the Students returned to winning ways with a clinical win against Ngezi Platinum Stars in an entertaining Castle Lager Premier Soccer League match at the National Sports Stadium yesterday.
Mutiwekuziva’s charges were desperate to collect points at home after a defeat away at Black Rhinos, last week.
They got off to the perfect start when striker Brighton Majarira opened the scoring from the penalty spot inside five minutes.
After initially struggling to keep up with the tempo of the match, Ngezi started to enjoy some possession but were pegged back again against the run of play as Herentals soon doubled their lead with Blessing Majarira joining his brother on the score sheet with a neat finish on 20 minutes.
Ngezi tried to come back into the match in the second half, but despite coming close on a few occasions failed to breach the Herentals defence, which stood firm.
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Instead it was Herentals who finished the match strongly as Davison Marowa sealed a dominant win for Herentals with a superb strike from outside the box in the 82nd minute after an earlier mistake by the Ngezi goalkeeper Nelson Chadya.
“Our fighting spirit made the difference today against Ngezi. We had the hunger to collect the points and that’s where the difference was,” an elated Mutiwekuziva said.
“This was a very important win for the team and a very good recovery especially after losing to Black Rhinos at Vengere. I’m very happy with the win today, particularly looking at the opponent we were playing against, Ngezi Platinum. They are a very good team and have been doing very well of late and we have managed to get the points against them which is very positive for the team,”
Ngezi Platinum Stars coach Benjani Mwaruwari lamented the early goal his team conceded.
“When you are playing away from home and you concede so early it becomes so difficult, but we tried to come back into the game. Unfortunately when we were starting to play well they managed to get the second goal. After the second goal we tried again to play and we did exactly that and we were just unlucky not to score as we missed a few chances,” Mwaruwari said after the match.
The result lifted Herentals above Ngezi Platinum into sixth position on 30 points 20 matches while Ngezi Platinum are a point and one place behind.
Castle Lager Premier Soccer League Matchday 20 Results & Fixtures
Friday: Yadah 1-1 Harare City
Yesterday: Herentals 3-0 Ngezi Platinum Stars, Bulawayo City 3-2 Whawha, Cranborne Bullets 1-0 Dynamos, FC Platinum 1-0 Bulawayo Chiefs
Today: Highlanders v Manica Diamonds (Barbourfields), Triangle v ZPC Kariba (Gibbo), Caps United v Black Rhinos (National Sports Stadium), Tenax v Chicken Inn (Vengere)
