Africa-Press – Tanzania. SIMBA Assistant Coach Selemani Matola has blamed ‘bad luck’ for a barren draw against Coastal Union during their Premier League match played at Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in Dar es Salaam over the weekend.
The game saw each side reduced to 10 men in the second half with Coastal Union becoming the first side to receive the punishment after Benedictor Job was shown marching orders in the 74th minute for indiscipline.
It was his second booking during the match as he also fouled Simba’s midfielder Sadio Kanoute midway in the first half thereby making the Tanga giants finish the business with ten men on the battlefield.
In the 93rd minute, Simba’s center-back Henock Inonga received a straight red card for head-butting a Coastal Union player as tensions were high to both sides with the clock ticking. At the end, the visitors hold on to force a draw with the defending champions which was much better for them while for the hosts, the outcome was similar to a salt on fresh wound.
Up next, Simba will host Namungo at the same venue tomorrow in a sparkling midweek fixture which will attract attention of many fans while Coastal Union will be at their turf Mkwakwani Stadium in Tanga welcoming Tanzania Prisons who are still struggling in the ongoing race.
However, at a postmatch briefing, Matola said it was a good match to them especially in the second half where he said they missed several scoring chances.
“Any team which plays against Simba does approach the match like a final and that is exactly what Coastal Union did until the match ended in a goalless draw. This is football and these results are part of the game. “We accept the outcome and now our focus is on the next match in order to do well. I can say it was just a bad luck for us because both Kibu Denis and John Bocco had great scoring opportunities which were missed as such, we have forgotten about this match and we concentrate on the other opponent,” he said.
His counterpart for Coastal Union Melis Medo said they were grateful with one point away from home against giant Simba saying his team deserved it.
“We fought hard against a big team in front of their fans. Our boys played with pressure but I can say the level of preparations we did before coming here really worked better to our side,” said the American import trainer. His player Job who was shown marching orders admitted that his exit was a big blow to his team since it disturbed their game plan aside from playing with few men on the field.
He then hailed his teammates for fighting hard to claim one point despite being few in number while disclosing that their target is to thrive to pocket maximum points in their next duel versus Tanzania Prisons.
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