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Ray Bande in Mutare

Manica Diamonds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  (0) 0

Chegutu Pirates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  (0) 0

CHEGUTU Pirates coach Emmanuel Day Gutu’s conduct was a bad advert for football as he harassed first assistant referee Claris Simango for the greater part of a dull encounter against Manica Diamonds at Sakubva Stadium yesterday.

From the onset, Gutu was seemingly teaching Simango how to officiate as he charged towards her each time a decision that did not go his teams’ way was made.

After numerous attacks on the official, Gutu was eventually ref carded in the 78th minute with referee Thabani Ruzani fed up with the coach’s antics. 

Apart from Gutu’s conduct, Chegutu Priates were full value of the all-important away point they snatched from Manica Diamonds after remaining solid in defence for the entire 90 minutes.

Even though Manica Diamonds dominated possession, created many scoring opportunities and could have grabbed at least one goal, with a little bit of luck, Jairos Tapera’s charges were wasteful.

Tapera said: “I think there are a number of positives that we can draw from our performance in this match. There was an improvement in our defence and with a bit of luck we could have won this match.

“However, I am happy that we managed to get a point and going forward we will build on the positives we noted as we seek to improve our game.”
Godfrey Tamirepi, who gave a post-match interview in the absence of his red carded boss, said: 

“We are happy that we managed to get a point away from home. We desperately needed it. Remember we lost our opening two matches and this point is valuable, especially when you consider that we got it away from home against a formidable outfit like Manica Diamonds.”