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Leonard Ncube – [email protected] 
THE poor state of the Bulawayo-Victoria Falls road almost cost Adachi FC a game as the team arrived in the resort city moments before kick-off.
Zifa Adachi FC coach Johannes Ngodzo praised his charges for shrugging off fatigue and winning the match 2-1 against Victoria Falls City FC in the Southern Region Division 1 league match played at Chinotimba Stadium on Saturday.
The visitors drew first blood in the 3rd minute through a penalty by veteran striker Obidiah Tarumbwa after rough play.

There seemed to be poor communication between the centre referee and his assistant as they made conflicting judgements on the purported foul but the referee pointed to the spot.
The home side equalised 10 minutes later through some lively play by match day star Daniel Dube on the right wing.
His superb cross found Benson Munsaka who out jumped Adachi defenders to nod the ball home.
Adachi were to go on the lead through a set piece once again 15 minutes later after the referee adjudged Victoria Falls City’s left back to have committed a foul against the visitors’ defender.
The resultant free kick proved hard to deal with for Clavah Sandram, the home side’s goalkeeper who had a bad day in office as he struggled with every ball.
He punched the ball back into play and straight onto the head of Ronald Kaunda who neatly sent it to the back of the net.
The second half was characterised by purposeful football as both teams hunted for goals but occasional rough play would slow the match down.
Victoria Falls City were unlucky not to score in the dying minutes of the match as they forced the visitors to back pedal but goalkeeper Sandton Ndlovu was equal to the task.
Adachi Coach Johannes Ngodzo bemoaned the state of the road which saw them arrive in Victoria Falls moments before the match.

A journey that used to take between four and six hours now takes between seven and 12 hours between Bulawayo and Victoria Falls by road.
“It is not easy coming here. We arrived just before the match and the boys had no time to rest or prepare but am happy they performed well. This is our second time coming to Victoria Falls and on both occasions we came with three points. Our opponents today were a good side but I also give credit to my boys after travelling and arriving just before the match and playing without resting.
“So our approach in this league is to run our own race, we don’t look at how others are performing but we target three points. So we came here and got that and now we are looking at the next game. Yes we started badly in the league so for now we are not focusing on the league but our next game with ZPC,” he said.
Adachi beat Mosi Rovers, the other Victoria Falls team earlier in the season and they will be hosting ZPC in the next game.

Victoria Falls City coach Phumulo “Coach Kanu” Mathe blamed poor officiating for the loss.
“The game was ok although we had some blunders. We lost the match through that element of mistake by match officials. The boys played well and equalised, they controlled the match until the blunder that gave the visitors the second goal,” said Mathe.
He said they were also focusing on their next match which they hope to win against DRC in Hwange.