AfricaPress-Tanzania: COMPLEXITY of the title race best described the Premier League matches staged in two separate venues on Thursday.
Top of today’s league matches came from Sumbawanga where Tanzania Prisons shocked Simba with a 1-0 victory, the first loss for the club after playing league matches for 560 minutes.
On the other side, the loss eases pressure to the leaders Azam who are riding far ahead with 21 points and have not been beaten for 630 minutes.
But, it was all smiles at Uhuru Stadium, where Young Africans claimed a slim 1-0 win over Polisi Tanzania to knock their traditional rivals, Simba out of the second position, following their painful away loss to Tanzania Prisons at Nelson Mandela Stadium in Simbawanga.
The absence of key players, most notably their ‘lethal marksmen’ Meddie Kagere, John Bocco, Chriss Mugalu seemed to deal a big blow to the team’s clean sheet campaign.
At Uhuru Stadium, both teams showed quality game creating good chances time after time.
At the 36th minute of the game Police Tanzania striker, Marcel Kaheza made a dangerous move that could earn them an opener, but Yanga’s defender and skipper Lamine Moro timely thwarted away the danger.
After several futile attempts, no side managed to score until the end of the first half.
Two minutes after the resumption, Yanga’s newly recruited Farid Mussa made a serious attempt, but he failed to find the back of the net.
It took Yanga 25 minutes, after restart to score the winner through a Congolese import Tonombe Mukoko, whose powerful strike beat Polisi Tanzania goalkeeper Peter Manyika after the ball deflected his defenders.
It was in the 70th minute of a highly entertaining game. With the results Yanga has been elevated to the second place, having penned 16 points and five points adrift the leaders Azam who have collected 21 from seven matches.
Simba have been pushed to the third place with 13 points in pocket. Both Simba and Yanga have played six matches compared to Azam with seven matches.
At Nelson Mandela stadium, Simba witnessed their top wing defender, Shomari Kapombe taken off in the 14th minute following an early injury as his team suffered a 1-0 loss to Tanzania Prisons.
His place was taken by Kennedy Juma. After the changes Tanzania Prisons made a serious attempt in the 22nd minute, but their goal was disallowed by the linesman for an offside.
Six minutes before the first half break, Simba strikers Charles Ilanfya nearly scored an opener but his powerful header hit the post. It was in the 39th minute when that golden chance was wasted.
A few minutes after the restart, it was Tanzania Prisons who celebrated.
Samson Mbangula registered the winner just five minutes after the start of the second half when he expertly nodded home a free kick that overpowered Simba custodian Aishi Manula.
Simba made efforts to level the score in the 53rd minute through a free kick set by Bernard Morrison, but Ilanfya’s curled shot went far wide.
Luis Miquissone made another attempt through a free kick some minutes later, but his tricky shot was saved by Tanzania Prisons goalie, Jeremiah Kisubi. The goalkeeper went on to save other shots that helped his team to claim the vital win.
