BY SPORTS CORRESPONDENT
MANICA DIAMONDS . . . (1)1
ZPC KARIBA . . . . . . . . . .(1)2
MANICA Diamonds failed to capitalise on their home advantage which sent them crashing out of the prestigious Chibuku Super Cup following a quarter-final match defeat by ZPC Kariba.
The defeat at Vengere Stadium yesterday dealt a major blow to the Johannes Nhumwa-coached side who were eyeing their first silverware in the top-flight league in their maiden season in the Premiership.
Manica Diamonds had a golden opportunity to take the match to a penalty shootout, but former Buffaloes player Takunda Jeffrey succumbed to pressure and missed a late penalty during regulation time.
The home side had gotten off to a brilliant start when they opened the scoring through Stanley Ngala in the 13th minutes before Goodwill Gwara levelled terms just after the hour mark.
After the teams went to the break deadlocked at one goal apiece, ZPC Kariba took the lead two minutes after the restart after James Marufu scored from the spot.
Nhumwa, who was recently named coach of the month for September, said his team’s focus was now to stay in the Premier Soccer League.
“It was a bad day in office for us today, but tough luck to my boys. We missed some good chances, but it is part of football. We are now focusing on the league as we want to end the season on a high note and possibly on a good position,” he said.
His counterpart Godfrey Tamirepi was happy after storming into the last four of the tournament.
“It was a good result for us. We are going to continue to fight in this tournament and see what will happen. The boys played according to the game plan, especially after losing 1-0 here a few weeks back,” he said.
