Bulawayo Chiefs......................0
Manica Diamonds...................0
BULAWAYO Chiefs and Manica Diamonds played out a goalless stalemate at Luveve Stadium on a chilly Saturday afternoon.
Patrick Mandizha was in charge of Manica Diamonds in the absence of Jairos Tapera, who is away on national duty with the Zimbabwe mens senior national team participating at the COSAFA tournament currently happening in South Africa.
The second assistant Tafadzwa Mashiri also missed the encounter after losing his mother a day before the game, leaving the Manica Diamonds technical team depleted.
Even the introduction of Kudakwashe Mahachi in the 70th minute could not aid the Gem Boys to victory as Amakhosi held on for a precious point against the second placed side.
Mandizha opined that Mahachi is still yet to gain fitness, but they rely on his experience to guide the youngsters, which was not the case yesterday afternoon.
"We are still working on his fitness. He is not at the optimum level we expect him to be. That is why we introduce him late in the game because of his experience. In other matches, he is able to assist us. His experience also helps with the youngsters in producing the results that we desire," said Mandizha.
The stand in gaffer was also satisfied with the point they gained. "I'm happy, away from home we managed to pick up a point. Which is very crucial going forward," he said.
On the other hand Chiefs coach Thulani Sibanda felt his charges could have won the match had they converted the chances that came their way. "It's a game that we wanted to win and it's a game I feel we could have won. Of course we knew we couldn't go 50/50 with these guys in terms of their physical stature.
"They are bigger than our players, most of our boys have a small body frame. So we had to be quick and dynamic each time we get the ball...We did create quite a few chances and with a bit of maturity and composure we could have got about two or three goals," said Sibanda.
The best chance for Manica Diamonds came in the 30th minute when Jeffrey Takunda's effort, fired with aplomb crashed against the upright after a scramble inside the box, with Chiefs struggling to clear their lines.
For Chiefs, Cephas Musikavanhu's thunderbolt in the 34th minute had the crowd up on its feet but it missed the target by a few inches.
Besides the few opportunities that were few and far in-between, both teams gave it their all but poor finishing was the order of the day.
Yesterday's results
Yadah 2-0 Highlanders
Ngezi Platinum 3-2 CAPS United
Simba Bhora 1-0 ZPC Kariba