Ngezi Platinum Stars . (1) 1
Bulawayo Chiefs . . . . . . . . 0
Takunda Benhura scored the only goal of the match to earn Ngezi Platinum Stars a crucial win over Bulawayo Chiefs at Baobab yesterday and ease off some pressure on under-fire coach Takesure Chiragwi.
More crucially, the home side were the more deserving winners, and the victory will go a long way in easing pressure on Chiragwi.
Benhura looped the ball over goalkeeper Prosper Matutu into the Chiefs net on 33rd minute in a first half that the hosts thoroughly dominated.
The Chiefs defenders were guilty of ball watching as they misjudged a long clearance from Ngezi goalkeeper Nelson Chadya.
Chiefs improved in the second half, but while they enjoyed much of the possession, they didn't force Chadya into any meaningful save.
Victory, their only second of the season, and the first in six matches, took Ngezi to eighth position with 12 points, seven behind leaders Manica Diamonds after 10 rounds of matches.
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Bulawayo Chiefs dropped from third to fifth after the defeat. The Ninjas have 15 points following their surprise good start to the season considering they have a new squad.
"We played well in the first half because we really wanted to win," Chiragwi said.
"We really needed this win because we haven't been getting the results deserving our good performances. We needed the win to give us more confidence and take off the psychological block from the players. We knew exactly what we wanted to do from the start of the match so we thought we should keep on attacking and we did just that."
Chiefs coach Thulani Sibanda said his team were unlucky not to get a result in Mhondoro.
"We started a bit slow. It took us some time to adjust, possibly because of the (condition of the) pitch but I think in the second half we came out and did very well. We had a brilliant second half, we should at least maybe snatched a draw today," Sibanda said.
