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Innocent Kurira, Sports Reporter

Bulawayo City 3-1 CIWU

BULAWAYO City came from a goal down to beat nine-men CIWU in a Zifa Southern Region Division One encounter at Luveve Stadium yesterday.

Second half goals from Darryl Nyandoro, Zephaniah Ngodzo and Benson Phiri ensured City shot to the top of the table two points ahead of Talen Vision who play ZPC Hwange this afternoon.

CIWU had opened the scoring through a Percy Maphosa first half strike. 

All was going well for CIWU until the 59th minute when Tayson Mazithulela was given his marching orders by referee Dalubuhle Nkomo for a crude tackle on Innocent Kutsanzira.

Kutsanzira was ferried to the hospital after the incident with indications that he had a fracture on his right leg. There was a 10 minute stoppage as the City medical team tried to treat the injured player. As that happened arguments and confrontations between players and coaches took centre stage on the pitch. From that moment CIWU switched off completely. 

The incident changed the complexion of the game, tensions was rising and there were crude tackles all oround. Ngodzo, Phiri and Zibusiso Moyo all received yellow cards for harsh fouls that appeared like revenge for the injury to Kutsanzira.

CIWU defender, James Chirinda, was sent off in stoppage time for a second bookable offence.

Bulawayo City coach, Try Ncube, said it was important for his side to continue grinding results as the title race is headed for a photo finish.

“It was a competitive top of the table clash, both teams wanted to win. We won the game in the second half. We knew they were going to tire and we took advantage of that,” he said.

His opposite number Kudzie Mhandire questioned some of the refereeing decisions on the day.

“We knew we were going to struggle after four weeks of inactivity. Clearly, we were not fit enough to face the quality of Bulawayo City especially in the second half. Questionable decisions are always there in football. The challenge between Kutsanzira and Mazithulela was a fifty-fifty challenge as they both went for a loose ball, it is unfortunate however that the other player got injured. I’m still to understand why Mazithulela was shown a straight red card later on after the referee had accessed the injury when he himself had not seen it as a foul and allowed play to go on,” he said.

Fixtures

Today: Ajax Hotspurs v Binga Pirates, Crescent 12 00 hrs, Casmyn vs Toronto, Turk Mine 15 00 hrs, Indlovu Iyanyathela v Bosso 90, Khumalo Barracks 12 00 hrs, ZPC Hwange v Talen Vision, Ingagula 12 00 hrs, Moto Moto v Mainline, Mpumalanga 15 00 hrs, Mosi v Arenel, Chinotimba 15 00 hrs, Makomo on Bye. – @innocentskizoe