AfricaPress-Tanzania: THE penultimate round prior to the suspension of the Mainland Premier League wrote the biggest chapter, and top riders Simba emerged an edge above the rest.
It was Simba’s 8-0 blitz over relegation threatened Singida United that heralded the best and the worst of the penultimate round and the goal margin spoke much about it.
As evidenced through the league table standings, the eight goals netted by Simba helped to make the round among the unique goal festivals, besides singling Meddie Kagere as the chief ‘hitman’.
The hefty number of goals were too rewarding to Simba Head Coach Sven Vandenbroeck, who said afterwards he felt sorry for their opponents after they were hammered in a league match.
He said he was very sorry for Singida United after they shipped in eight goals in a Mainland Premier League mauling on Wednesday. Besides stamping the season’s highest score, the match earned Kagere his first quadruple and arguably the only one likely to be netted this season.
Kagere’s four goals in the victory extend his tally to 19 goals and with ten matches remaining for his side; he is well positioned to beat the 26-goal record stamped by the former Young Africans striker Mohamed Hussein ‘Mmachinga’.
Deo Kanda netted a brace, while other goals were scored by skipper John Bocco and substitute Sharaf Shiboub. Added with Simba eight goals, 22 goals were netted in the round, according to the league results.
The second goal festival was celebrated in Azam’s 2-1 victory over Ruvu Shooting, Ndanda FC 2-1 win over Kagera Sugar. Three goals were netted in both matches. Prior to the league suspension, KMC had managed to shrug off relegation threat after posting four wins in their last five games.
The team raced clear of the strong contenders Azam and Young Africans to tie with leaders Simba and Mwadui in the last five-game run. The three teams have notched 12 points; the best ever results in the last five games staged prior to the league suspension.
Racing far ahead of their pursuers with 71 points, league top riders Simba were still enjoying the pilot seat before the league was halted. Prior to its suspension, the three teams had, each won four of the five last games.
Simba, who stamped four wins, saw their good record being smeared when they lost 1-0 to their traditional rivals.
Relegation threat seemed to have woken up Mwadui and KMC from slumber. Both sides were at the deep red line prior to winning four out of five latest matches. Both Mwadui and KMC have been very unfriendly to the football giants Simba and Yanga.
Mwadui was the first team to beat Simba in during the earliest stage of the league while KMC also staged the big upset to Yanga in their fourth match. Simba suffered 1-0 loss to Mwadui and the same score margin was recorded by KMC in their victory over Yanga.
Yanga who drew 1-1 with Namungo in their last game, are second after pocketing 10 points from three victories, a draw and one loss to KMC. The team remained at the third place with 51 points at the league’s stoppage time.
Azam, who are second overall with 54 points and 17 points behind leaders are the third best in five-game show after collecting nine points out of 15 maximum points.
The Ice-cream makers have won three games while losing two others. On opposite performance are Alliance whose last five-game run was the worst of all.
The Mwanza-based team lost all five matches followed by Mbao who lost four and drew once to reap a single point out of 15 maximum points. Singida United, who are still limping at the bottom of the table lost 12 points in their last five games after winning once and losing the remaining four matches.
Placed at the 16th position with 31 points, are Ndanda who have added 5 points from the five games. They have won one match, drew two others and lost two games.
Fourth-placed Namungo are the team with the highest number of draws in their last five matches. They have stamped four draws with one victory to reap 9 points.
