The victory at the National Stadium means Simba climbed the Vodacom Premier League table to the third spot with 26 points, five adrift of leaders Yanga.
Emmanuel Okwi just cannot stop tormenting Young Africans. His 51st minute screamer ensured Simba SC recorded a 1-0 win over their arch-rivals.
The victory at the National Stadium means Simba climbed the Vodacom Premier League table to the third spot with 26 points, five adrift of leaders Yanga.
For Yanga, this is the fourth year they are failing to bag maximum points from their eternal rivals. Their last victory was on October 29, 2011 when Davies Mwape scored the solitary goal. The match started off lively with both teams trying to score an early goal.
Simba’s Ibrahim Ajib went close to drawing the first blood barely two minutes into the game, but his lofted shot went off target.
Yanga responded in the eighth minute when Simon Msuva outpaced Simba defenders, but his feeble shot did not trouble goalkeeper Ivo Mapunda.
A minute later, Okwi ran through the Yanga backline and it took Kelvin Yondani’s superb tackle to deny the Ugandan.
Nadir Haroub nearly conceded a penalty in the 14th minute when he brought down Okwi. The resulting free kick, however, was cleared. Msuva missed a chance to give Yanga the lead in 18th minute after dillydallying in the area, allowing Juuko Murshid to make a clearance.
Amis Tambwe, who was playing against his former club for the first time, could have punished them had his powerful header not gone a few centimetres over the crossbar. Midway through the first half, Ramadhani Singano, who was tightly marked throughout the game, attempted a long-range shot that hit the woodwork before a rebound was palmed away by Ali Mustafa. Tambwe fluffed another chance with seconds to the interval when instead of slotting the ball home; he passed to Msuva who blasted a shot off target.
After the break, Yanga looked a better team with Tambwe and Msuva putting the Simba defenders under pressure.
However, Okwi punished Mustafa’s goalkeeping error with a stunning 25-metre volley that gave the Yanga custodian no chance. After the goal, Yanga stepped up their assaults on Simba, but panic and lack of precision in the area cost them.
The Hans van der Pluijm’s side was forced to play with 10 men after Haruna Niyonzima was sent off for picking two yellow cards.
With a man advantage, Simba controlled that game to the final whistle, leaving thousands of Yanga fans dejected.
