The Sunday Mail
Lovemore Kadzura in Rusape
Manica Diamonds…………….0
Black Rhinos………………………2
Black Rhinos eased into the second spot on the Castle Lager Premiership table and piled more pressure on Manica Diamonds coach Luke Masomere as the soldiers’ win at Vengere condemned the hosts to their seventh match without a win.The visitors got their opener via a 47th minute Wellington Taderera penalty after referee Mercy Mayimbo adjudged that defender Jeffery Takunda had handled the ball inside the box.Former Hwange and Harare City man Francesco Zekumbawira then sent in a cross following a counter attack. Seventeen-year-old Armstrong Mutudza then slotted it home in an empty net after 64 minutes.
Rhinos have now amassed 30 points from 17 games and are two behind leaders FC Platinum.
The army side also took full advantage of Chicken Inn’s inactivity and CAPS United’s slump in the last two weeks to rise up the ladder. Masomere, for whom the pressure is mounting given the expensive manner in which his side was assembled, chose to blame the match officials, accusing them of awarding a penalty from nowhere.
“I do not want to be brought before the disciplinary committee but that was not a penalty at all, the referee was some metres away but chose to give a penalty. The penalty was the turning point.
“We were playing our best football today but we lost. This puts us under unnecessary pressure. The winless run is not new to me, I have been in such a scenario before,” fumed Masomere. Rhinos coach Hebert Maruwa was not amused by the condition of the Vengere pitch.
“It was a good game for a team playing away from home and on a pitch like this. We lost key players in the first half but we have good replacements. We will continue piling pressure on the teams at the top, said Maruwa.
