Africa-Press – Tanzania. YOUNG Africans have lost ground in the Mainland Premier League title race, following a barren draw to Namungo FC at the Kassim Majaliwa Stadium in Ruangwa, Lindi.
Yanga had a goal controversially ruled out by referee Hans Mabena in the 78th minute, when Sogne Yacoub rose above Namungo defenders to nod home from Tusila Kisinda flick header at the near post following a corner kick taken by Saido Ntibazonzika.
Earlier before the incident, the Burkinabe striker was unlucky once again in the 66th minute as he was denied a clear opportunity to score by goalkeeper Jonathan Nahimana who made a brilliant save to clear Yacouba shot in a one on one incident.
Yanga were searching for vital three points to cement their current second slot in the league and mount pressure on league leaders Simba, as the season nears its climax.
The Jangwani Street outfit badly needed to collect all three points in order to stay put on the course of challenging for the silverware at the end of the season, and the results Saturday slowed their campaign and are likely to surrender the race for championship.
Following the results, Yanga maintained their firm grip of the second position on 58 points after 28 outings. Yanga are now three points behind Simba However, Simba have three matches in hand.
On the other hand, following the results, Namungo have also maintained their10th position in the league with 36 points from 26 games and need to scale up their game to avoid relegation.
Namungo are still very much embroiled in the red tape, meaning the Ruangwa lads desperately needed to snatch maximum three points yesterday to be comfortable on the log.
In the match yesterday, Yanga started brightly, pinning the home team at their own domain for the large part of the first half, winning about six corners, all taken by Ntibazonzika, but failed to convert them into goals.
However, their opponents managed to contain the pressure and managed to push some attacks on Yanga’s goal, and could have had an early lead in the 8th minute when Hashim Manyanya missed a free chance after rounding Adeyum Saleh inside the box and had only goalkeeper Metacha Mnata to beat, but surprisingly shot wide off target.
Yanga fired back in the 21st minute through Ntibazonzika who was set through by Michael Sarpong and charged into the box, but he was denied a chance to score by a defender who cleared the ball to give relief to the hosts.
Yanga built up an attack and won a corner in the 24 minute, the corner was taken by Ntibazonzika and connected well by Feisal Salum but the ball was deflected and went off-target and resulted to another futile corner.
The two sides went into the half –time break in deadlock. Yanga who are still settling in the second position on the league log, gives third placed Azam FC a chance to close the gap with Yanga as today night host KMC at their Azam Complex, where a will intensify the title race among the top three side.
The ‘Ice Cream Makers’ are on 54 points from 28 matches, while KMC sits on 5th place after gathering 41 points.
Azam might probably not win the league title but have remained firm on the hunt for the golden boot chase in the name of striker Prince Dube, whose scoring boots are no longer going hungry.
He however ought to continue to be aggressive at the goal mouth should he really want to end the season with the best award each player in any competitive league would like to have.
