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Oscar Rusenga, in TRIANGLE

Manica Diamonds . . . . . . . . . . . . . (1)2

Highlanders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0

Manica Diamonds comfortably beat Highlanders at Gibbo yesterday to consolidate third position on the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League standings.

The Gem Boys scored two beautiful goals through unusual scorers Panashe Mutasa and Talent Chamboko but it was their top goal scorer Fortune Binzi who had another blinder of a match with a good overall performance and another assist.

The opening goal came in the 39th minute after first half substitute Brighton Manhire failed to handle Binzi who attacked the box before setting up Panashe Mutasa for an easy goal from less than 6 yards.

Manica needed eight second half minutes to double their lead as Chamboko eventually got his name on the score-sheet with a beauty of a goal acrobatically connecting a good cross from Mutasa, a superb finish.

“We had a mistake on the first goal, the second goal was a beautiful goal which you can’t blame anybody. Credit to Manica Diamonds for the good game but we are happy with our overall performance and we hope we can take this performance to our last game of the season,” said assistant coach Joel Luphahla.

Highlanders played well but never threatened to score in open play and the few chances the got were from the set pieces. First it was Melikhaya Ncube whose rasping effort in the 80th minute from more than 20 yards was equally matched by a smart save from Geoffrey Chitsumba who has been in fantastic form since replacing Tedious Baye between the posts.

Luphahla was happy despite the defeat and is already looking forward to their last game of the season against 2023 champions Ngezi Platinum Stars.

“We had a good game, of course we lost but the players worked very hard and we want to give credit to them. It’s never easy playing away from home. We wanted to win it for our departed coach Rahman Gumbo but unfortunately we couldn’t.

“The future of Highlanders is safe with these youngsters and it’s good if players like Prince Ndlovu get an opportunity and what he does on the field of play is promising. It’s unfortunate Nyati got injured early and that disturbed our game plan and the rhythm of the game.

“Unfortunately our next game at home we are the ones who will give the crown to Ngezi which I know will be very tough on our fans but we will try our best to give them the maximum three points and finish well,” said Luphahla.

Manica Diamonds coach Jairos Tapera who is still pushing to finish above Dynamos on second position was happy with the result.

The two teams are both on 57 but Dynamos have a superior goal difference going into the last game of the season.

“It was a good game especially on our side, we were in control from start to finish. If we were composed, we could have scored more than two goals but the two we scored were enough to give us maximum points which was important.

It’s our last game at Gibbo this season and it has been a good hunting ground for us collecting a lot of points here, let’s see what will happen next season. We just hope our stadium in Mutare will be completed so we can play in front of our supporters,” said Tapera.