AfricaPress-Tanzania: AZAM continue to lack winning consistence in the unfolding Premier League campaign after being held to a goalless draw by Tanzania Prisons at Azam Complex on Monday evening.
It was one of the tough duels for the hosts this season which saw the visitors playing their usual physical game giving their opponents a rough ride on the day thereby making the tense encounter elapse in the balance.
After smashing Mbeya City 2-1 at the same venue in their past match, people expected the same winning form by Azam to continue over Tanzania Prisons but at the end of the normal period of play, neither of the two sides changed the scoreboard.
As such, in their four back to back matches, the Chamazi based outfits have garnered four points from possible 12 points making the journey towards the championship thorny.
They started with a 2-2 draw versus defending champions Simba at Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in the city before going down 2-1 to Coastal Union at Mkwakwani Stadium in Tanga.
Later, Azam won 2-1 against Mbeya City at their turf in the city but could not manage to contain Tanzania Prisons on Monday as the two sides shared spoils making it hard for Azam to be among the key title contenders of the season.
“It was a very difficult and more physique match for us but this is what football is all about. The chances we created could not be turned into goals and our focus now is on the next league match,” said Azam’s Assistant Coach Vivie Bahati.
On his part, Tanzania Prisons Assistant Coach Shabani Kazumba said getting one point from Azam was fair results for them even though their priority was to win the game.
“The outcomes show that our work rate was the same and let me congratulate my players for executing well what we told them during training sessions as they were able to compete with Azam, who have many foreign based players,” he said.
Azam remain glued at the third place on the table with 37 points from 21 outings while Tanzania Prisons are eighth on the ladder with 26 points from 20 encounters.
They started the season on a front pedal winning seven games in a row but things made a U-turn from their eighth league match a development which led to the firing of their former coach Aristica Cioaba.
