BY HENRY MHARA IN RUSAPE
Cranborne Bullets . . . . . . (0) 1
Ngezi Platinum Stars. . . . . . . 0
CRANBORNE Bullets coach Nesbert Saruchera says his team “is in the right direction” in their fight against relegation.
His sentiments came after the army side picked three precious points with a victory over Ngezi Platinum Stars at Vengere Stadium in Rusape yesterday.
Second-half substitute Tadiwa Chibunyu scored with a header deep in injury time to give the league debutants their fourth win in their last six games.
Bullets moved to 12th position on the log standings with 28 points, six clear of the relegation zone.
Saruchera was left impressed with the way his troops performed yesterday and has faith his team will be soon out of relegation danger if they keep playing the way they did against Ngezi.
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“As I said in my previous interviews, we are playing to avoid the chop (relegation) this year and then maybe next year we try to challenge for bigger things,” Saruchera said.
“We are on the right track at the moment. I’m happy that we managed to score late today. The boys were fantastic from the word go and I’m happy with the way they played. If we continue like this, we will be fine,” added Saruchera who revealed his players had just earned themselves two days of rest for their good show.
Ngezi Platinum Stars Interim coach Takesure Chiragwi, who was looking to make it two wins on the trot since taking over from fired Benjani Mwaruwari, was left to rue his team’s missed chances.
The platinum miners enjoyed possession for the larger parts of the match and created better opportunities but could not just score.
“It happens in football, tough luck to the boys,” said Chiragwi. “But I thought in terms of performance were on top, especially in the second half. We managed to create opportunities to score, but the execution was not there. The team did almost everything but unfortunately, we conceded from a setpiece. We need to go back and focus on our next game. We will keep on playing so that we can manage to pick ourselves up.”
Ngezi are in ninth position with 33 points.
It was the away side who created the first good opportunity with midfielder Denver Mukamba testing the hosts’ goalkeeper from a distance.
Moments later, Delic Murimba came close to scoring for Chiragwi’s side but his shot went just wide.
In the second half, Bruno Mtigo got a clear sight of the goal from inside the area but dragged his shot wide.
At the other end, Malvin Madzuka’s effort looked to be going in but a reaction save from Ngezi goalkeeper Nelson Chadya kept the ball out.
The match looked to be petering to a draw when Chibunyu, a 72nd-minute substitute for Munesu Kaseke planted a header home from a setpiece on the 92nd minute to send the home crowd into delirium.
