Africa-Press – Tanzania. YOUNG Africans striker Fiston Mayele said he was overjoyed to score the winner in his Dar es Salaam derby debut against traditional rivals Simba as the goal handed his team the Community Shield.
Yanga created a new head to head record of winning the Community Shield silverware three times compared to two won by their traditional rivals Simba since the shield inception in 2001.
The DR Congo imported ‘hitman’ made headlines over the weekend when his winner declared Yanga the new holders of the Community Shield.
It is one of the three major titles Simba held since last season. The tense match staged at the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in Dar es Salaam officially flagged off the start of 2021/22 Premier League season whose normal flow of fixtures begin today in three league hosting venues.
“I am very happy to score the only goal which has given us the trophy, I thank God for that,” said Mayele during a post- match briefing while insisting that he is used to play in big derby. His skipper Bakari Mwamnyeto admitted that the game was tough such that they had to put in practice what their coach told them to dominate the midfield section.
He then urged Yanga fans to never give up and that they should always come in big number to cheer their team wherever they will be playing this season saying many good things are coming for them.
On his part, the team’s Ugandan midfield maestro Khalid Aucho dedicated the victory to Yanga fans saying they have been missing it for a long time.
“You do not know how I am feeling now because I am very excited since I have won a trophy on my first game here. We trained hard to get this win and the coach was giving us his tactics on how to play and we used them to produce the good results,” he said.
Also expressing his satisfaction after the game was Yanga’s Interim Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Senzo Mazingiza said the win was a very good start to the season.
“I am confident that the coach and his technical bench will rebuild a competitive team in order to do better this season.
Every game we play, you can see positive changes in the players as their confidence levels move up,” said him.
Simba captain John Bocco who was introduced at the interval said losing the match was not their intention as such, they need to learn from mistakes they made to come out stronger in next games.
“We played well and we created a couple of scoring chances but failed to use them and I think we need to work out on such challenges ahead of upcoming encounters,” he narrated.
