Africa-Press – Tanzania. SIMBA Head Coach Sven Vandenbroeck said his obligation is to win the remaining two games in hand so as to stay firm in the Premier League race.
His sentiments came after guiding his side to a 2-0 victory against Polisi Tanzania on Wednesday at Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in Dar es Salaam which moved them to 26 points but, remain unmoved at the 3rd slot on the table.
A brace from substitute Clatous Chama in the 64th and 90th minute of the hot match made the difference of the game to give the hosts what they needed most as the marathon towards the championship gathers pace.
The Zambian locomotive midfielder once again proved his worth in the squad by netting two important goals to put his team on the right track as they aim to defend the league title for the fourth consecutive time.
“At the moment, we need to concentrate on the obligation to stay in the race of the league because we are now two games behind Young Africans and 8 points behind them so we have to win all the games to stay on 2 points adrift them while hoping that they will too drop points,” he said.
He added that he will continue to rotate the players in order to give others rest as they expect to have a jam-packed fixture until January 6th next year.
Again, Vandenbroeck commented on the signing of new holding midfielder Taddeo Lwanga saying he is happy to have an extra player to reinforce the midfield section.
“As you know, Gerson Fraga was ruled out for 6 to 8 months meaning that we had only one holding midfielder Jonas Mkude. This means Fraga will be missed for the whole season hence, we had to get another player to fill his void. “I would have loved to have him (Fraga) for the whole season but unfortunately, he will not be able to play any game this season. It is unluck for Fraga to be out of action for 8 months and his contract expires at the end of the season,” said the Belgian coach.
On his part, Polisi Tanzania coach Mbwana Malale Hamsini said individual brilliance of Chama who came in as a substitute made the difference of the game due to his knowledge of the game.
“To be honest, we were much better than Simba only that the coming in of Chama was the turning point of the game. We dominated them well but when Chama was introduced, he was able to make a big impact for Simba. “We lost concentration from the 60th minute thereby giving them opportunity to dominate us but, the match is now over, we must look up for another challenge,” he said.
It was the first Premier League match for Simba after playing two legged CAF Champions League duels against Plateau United from Nigeria in the preliminary round of the contest in which they excelled to venture into the second round thanks to a 1-0 aggregate win.
