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Ray Bande in Mutare

MANICA Diamonds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   1

cHICKEN Inn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . .  0

MANICA Diamonds notched their first win of the season with a second half strike from Micheal Tapera condemning Chicken Inn to their first defeat in a Castle Lager Premier Soccer League match at Sakubva yesterday.

With the victory, Manica Diamonds moved off the bottom to 15th with four points from five matches while Chicken Inn remain on six points.

Manica Diamonds coach Jairos Tapera was a dead man walking going into the encounter on the back of four winless matches but the crucial victory earned him more time in the job.

The hosts showed determination to take the game to their opponents from the first whistle with a series of raids but their strike force lacked the cutting edge in front of goal.

Manica Diamonds had a perfect scoring chance in the 40th minute when striker Tawanda Macheke intercepted a back pass and charged towards goal, did well to dribble past defender Itai Mabunu but failed to beat Donovan Bernard.

The hosts came back after the breather with the same tempo and were lucky not to get the opening goal.

Exciting right back Lawrence Masibera came close to breaking the deadlock in the 54th minute after connecting teammate Bero’s corner kick but the header missed the target by inches as it went over the crossbar.

With the lack of goals, fans suddenly found a hilarious moment when two balls were on the field of play for close to a minute in the 69th minute.

Resilience finally paid off for coach Tapera’s team in the 72nd minute when lively second half substitute Micheal Tapera raced into the box from the right with the ball firmly under his control and tapped a low cross that found no takers.

Winger Gerald Bero, who was on the other end, sent it back for Tapera to shove it home from close range and give his team the lead and only goal of the match.

The goal, which appeared to be clear to many neutrals, did not go down well with the Chicken Inn technical department whose kit manager Guide Goddard was shown a red card for protesting by referee Lawrence Zimondi.

Manica Diamonds assistant coach first assistant coach Tafadzwa Mashiri said the victory was a huge sigh of relief for the club.

“This was a hard fought triumph. We are happy to have finally collected our first set of maximum points.

“Things were not really good for us and I am happy that we managed to deliver.  We played well from the onset of the match and we created many scoring chances to the extent that we could have won this match with a wider margin,” he said.

Chicken Inn coach Joey Antipas was a livid man after the match.

“I think I agree with Lloyd Chitembwe when he said PSL is now comic because of poor officiating.

“What I cay the poor match officiating is disappointing. From the first whistle we were in trouble.

“Even if you look at the goal they scored, the ball went out and referee says play on until they scored. This is just atrocious,” said Antipas.