By Tendai Chisiri
Martin Murisa curled a free kick in the 81th minute to sink Simbisa FC in a semi-final match at Prince Edward on Saturday mid-morning as Dynamos Academy now meets Avondale FC on weekend.
Dynamos Academy secured their spot in the final of the Harare Division 2 League Cup with a narrow victory of Simbisa FC who had been pulling numbers at the back in order to go for penalty shoot outs after the stoppage time with a goalless score line.
The first half Dynamos showed that they had an upper hand although Simbisa goalkeeper Onesimo Matava worked overtime to stop them from scoring. Offensive Dynamos strikers frantically attacked but failed to convert goals.
After the half time break, Simbisa started to show composure with Bless more Mapira’s 30 metre drive in the 48th minute going over the bar.
Dynamos captain Murisa’s solo goal sealed the victory.
Norman Taruvinga the winning team’s coach bemoaned lack of a natural striker in his team. “The game was okay. The problem is that I have a lot of midfielders in the team hence the team failed to convert some obvious chances into goals,” he said. He said he was looking forward to the team to score more goals when they win.
After full time Simbisa stopper, Onesimo Matava had an alteration with the female center referee Mercy Mayimbo and female assistant referee Grace Gimo intervened before other players calmed the situation. The stopper must have been agitated by the referee for awarding a free kick in the dying minutes.
At the same venue at lunch – time break, Avondale FC locked horns with Harvesters whom they thumped 3-0 to claim a spot in the final of the Cup against Dynamos.
Obey Matsaukire had a perfect cross on the left wing that was connected by Jeremiah Makangira for a goal in the 6th minute of play to give Avondale FC an early 1-0 lead.
The match was controlled by Avondale FC who kept Harvesters defenders on their toes the whole time. However, Avondale made a lot of misses upfront.
In the 53th minute Jeremiah Makangira crossed the ball on the far left wing and Munashe Nandolo thumped it home to make the score line 2-0 in favor of Avondale FC. Avondale FC terrorized the Harvesters defense to the extent of leaving the defenders dejected.
Tafadzwa Ngara finished off Harvesters in the 78th minute with a brilliant shot. Naison Takawira assisted with a pass in the middle of the park with Ngara taking the shot outside at the edge of the box.
Avondale coach Albert Mutakatara was happy with the win but not happy with how his charges had performed. “Today, we were a bit down. A win to us is a bonus as we are much into development of youngsters,” said the gaffer.
He said he is not much worried about meeting Dynamos Academy in the final.” Dynamos Academy is a big team but we are not worried about that. We concentrate on our philososphy.
Dynamos Academy and Avondale FC clash in the final match at Prince Edward on Saturday.
The match which others see as a walkover in favor of Dynamos looks intriguing as Avondale with the underdog tag scored more goals in the semi-final.
News Sport Online 