Yanga and City close Azam gap
Young Africans striker Mrisho Ngassa (left) makes his way past JKT Mgambo’s defender during their Mainland Premier League match at the National Stadium in Dar es Salaam yesterday. Yanga won 3-0. PHOTO | MICHAEL MATEMANGA
What you need to know:
- High-riding Mbeya City now tie on 23 points with leaders Azam FC, one point ahead of third-placed Yanga , while Simba are fourth with 20 points.
Dar es Salaam. In-form Young Africans kept their chances of moving to the top of the Mainland Premier League alive with a convincing win in a day that also saw Mbeya City hit Prisons FC 2-0 in Mbeya.
Yanga, needing a win to be within the touching distance of league leaders Azam FC, had little mercy on struggling JKT Mgambo as they thrashed them 3-0 at the National Stadium yesterday.
They are now third in the league standing with 22 points, one adrift of joint leaders Azam and Mbeya City, and two ahead fourth-placed Simba, who lost 2-1 to the ice-cream makers on Monday at the same venue.
Mbeya City, who are making their first appearance in the top flight league, tie on 23 points with Azam FC, but they are behind on goals difference. The Yanga-Mgambo match started a cracking pace with both teams pressing upfront in turn in search of the match-opener.
A few seconds into the game, Yanga survived a scare when Mgambo’s striker Omari Yassin hesitated to place into the net a Balimi Busungu pass. As expected, Yanga took the game to the army side two minutes later and fluffed two chances in the third and fourth minutes, the culprits being Hamis Kiiza and Didier Kavumbagu.
Kiiza, with the net at his mercy, shot wide while Kavumbagu’s close range effort was superbly cleared by the Tanga team’s goalkeeper Tony Kavishe. Another chance for Yanga to break the deadlock came in the eighth minute when Mrisho Ngasa beat two defenders just outside the penalty box, only to see his shot narrowly miss target. Mgambo regained their rhythm later and ought to have gone one up in the 10th when Mohamed Nampoka’s shot went a few centimetres wide.
Nampoka fluffed another chance for Mgambo in the 15th minute when he cleverly beat defender Mbuyu Twite, but his shot went straight into the hands of goalkeeper Deogratius Munishi. Twite scored the first goal for Yanga in the 32nd minute for a 1-0 half time lead.
In the 49th minute, referee Abdallah Kambuzi from Shinyanga awarded the hosts a penalty after Kavumbagu was brought down in the box by goalkeeper Tony Kavishe. And Kiiza made no mistake with it, sending the goalie the wrong way before Kavumbagu made it 3-0 for Yanga five minutes after the hour mark.
Line-Ups:
Young Africans:- Deogratius Munishi, Mbuyu Twite, Oscar Joshua, Rajab Zahir, Kelvin Yondani, Athuman Idd, Simon Msuva, Frank Domayo, Didier Kavumbagu, Mrisho Ngassa and Hamis Kiiza.
JKT Mgambo:- Tony Kavishe/Godson Mmasa, Daud Salum, Bashiru Chawache, George Akitanda, Bakari Mtama, Novat Lufuna, Malimi Busungu, Peter Mwalyanzi, Fully Maganga, Omar Yassin, Mohamed Nampokwa
