The ManicaPost
Ray Bande
Senior Reporter
MANICA Diamonds coach Jairos Tapera, whose job was on the line, heaved a huge sigh of relief after watching his team edge Chicken Inn by a solitary goal at Sakubva Stadium in Mutare today.
Tapera was facing the chop after his team drew twice and lost as many matches in this 2024 Castle Lager Premiership season.
However, with a bit of luck, Manica Diamonds could have won this encounter by a wide margin but their strikers were a big let down.
Resilience finally paid off for the Gem Boys 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 it across the face of goal and Bero who was on the other end sent it back for Tapera to shove it home from close range to give the diamond miners the lead and only goal of the encounter.
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 by referee Lawrence Zimondi for protesting.
Teams:
Manica Diamonds:
Godfrey Chitsumba; Lawrence Masibera; Farai Banda; Tawanda Chisi; Nigel Mupunduki; Tubelihle Jabulani; Jefrey Takunda; Bret Amidu (Kudzanai Dhemere, 75th minute); Gerald Bero; Tawanda Macheke (Micheal Tapera, 51st minute):
Chicken Inn:
Bernard Donovan; Live Augusto (Obert Malajila, 60th minute); Lincoln Mangaira; Itai Mabunu; Danny Phiri; Joseph Thulani; Micheal Charamba Elshamar Farasi, 76th minute); Innocent Muchaneka (Genius Mutungamiri, 76th minute); George Majika (Itai Makopa, 60th minute); Xolani Ndlovu; Arthur Chinda.
