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Robson Sharuko : Senior Sports Editor

FOR a domestic Premiership which has been crying out for magicians to woo fans back to stadiums, it’s ironic that one of the finest pieces of individual brilliance this season could be lost in a haze of confusion and sheer incompetence on the part of blundering match officials. In a tight, if not lifeless, race for the Golden Boot, where the league’s forwards have been misfiring all season, it could have a huge bearing on who wins the accolade as the league’s top marksman this year.And it’s a shame that the man who should have been receiving rave reviews for a moment of genius, which should have been the highlight of CAPS United’s 4-1 demolition of Mutare City Rovers at the National Sports Stadium on Saturday, is not receiving the plaudits he richly deserves.

Instead, it’s veteran forward Leonard Tsipa, the spearhead of the CAPS United attack on Saturday, who has been dominating the newspaper headlines for scoring a brace in his team’s four-goal harvest which thrust them within just three points of leaders FC Platinum.

Joel “Josta” Ngodzo, somehow, finds himself pushed into the shadows when his moment of magic should have been the talking point not only of that game, when his team fired on all cylinders to revive their campaign for honours in the championship race, but the entire Round 21 of the PSL race.

For a man who has battled demons, including a stunning loss of form, rejection by some clubs and a ballooning weight to force his way back into the limelight, Ngodzo must be wondering why he keeps being stalked by misfortune to the extent he doesn’t get acknowledgement on the occasions he produces a sensational piece of magic.

Having been promoted back into the first team, after a period on the bench, Ngodzo played with both authority and style, for long periods in the opening half in a strong midfield that also featured Tafadzwa Rusike, Devon Chafa, the returning Brian Abbas Amidu and the slippery Phineas Bhamusi.

After Rusike, who opened the scoring for his side and the impressive Amidu had been lost to injuries in the first half, the initiative was handed to Ngodzo to not only provide the leadership, but also maintain his team’s dominance in the crucial midfield department.

Then, five minutes after the hour mark, the former Highlanders and FC Platinum man produced a sensational piece of individual brilliance that should have been the story of the match on Saturday, the type of magic which the fans have been crying for and which has been missing from our top-flight league.

Finding possession just inside his own half, Ngodzo somehow spotted that Mutare City Rovers goalkeeper, Victor Twaliki, had drifted off his line as he probably, and rightly so, didn’t expect any danger from that distance.

Whether it’s something Ngodzo knew from the past, having trained with Twaliki for months

during his time as a member of the Green Machine — that the goalkeeper had a fatal attraction with wandering from his line whenever he didn’t feel threatened — it’s something that only the midfielder can tell us.

But, for those watching the game at the giant stadium and others who followed it live on SuperSport, it was clear that Ngodzo had the presence of mind to lift his head and check where the goalkeeper was positioned and saw that Twaliki had wandered into dangerous territory that left him exposed.

Still, to even try and beat him, from where Ngodzo was positioned would have needed the confidence and accuracy, which has since made the likes of Wayne Rooney, David Beckham and Hlompo Kekana famous for their incredible long-distance goals.

Ngodzo, with his confidence high, decided to go for it and what followed was simply sensational.

Others have chosen to blame Twaliki, for having wandered off his line, but this is one occasion when — just as we have hailed Rooney, Beckham and Kekana for their precision in getting it right from a distance — we also have to praise Ngodzo for his beauty that should have been the Goal of the Season in the domestic Premiership so far this year.

A swing of his right boot sent the ball into motion, at pace and as it floated towards goal, Twaliki suddenly realised that he was in grave danger, especially as it began to dip at the right time, if you are a CAPS United fan and at the wrong time, if you are the goalkeeper or a Mutare City Rovers’ supporter.

As Twaliki scrambled back to try and tip it over, the ball spun past him, kissed the underside of the crossbar and then bounced inside the ‘keeper’s goal area.

There wasn’t even a question whether it had crossed the line because it had done so by a country mile and Twaliki, alone in his goal area, quickly realised that he had been beaten by something special and simply punched the bal, in frustration, back into play for the game to be restarted.

Somehow, referee Norman Matemera did not signal a goal and his assistant referee, who should have helped him with the crucial call, was way behind the action and could not make a valid call even though the resignation on the face of the ‘keeper should have told them that the ball had, indeed, crossed the line.

But, the two match officials allowed confusion to explode and Tsipa, seeing that the referees had not indicated a goal, gobbled the rebound and fired home.

Poor Ngodzo, who had started celebrating before his teammate grabbed the rebound and hammered it home, can be seen wondering why the match officials had chosen to deny him his moment in the sunshine.

Of course, to the CAPS United fans, it didn’t matter at the end because, after all, this was their team’s third goal.

But, for a magician robbed of his golden moment, it matters a lot and it’s sad that a Premiership, which has been crying out for such moments of magic, should conspire to erase them from its portfolio.