Brandon Moyo, Sports Reporter
NUST 2-0 Njube Spurs
NATIONAL University of Science and Technology (NUST) Football Club used home advantage to full use when they edged fellow title contenders, Njube Spurs 2-0 in their encounter at NUST Sports Grounds yesterday.
Coming into the crunch tie one point behind their opponents, it took a quick-fire brace from Artwell Marume to hand the home side the much needed three points in front of their singing fans, who were up in song in the presence of the institution’s Vice Chancellor, Professor Mqhele Dlodlo.
Marume broke the deadlock in the 31st minute after pouncing on an error made by a Spurs defender and went on to double the tally two minutes later to give his side a two-goal cushion heading into half -time. With the three points in the bag, NUST head coach, Joseph Sibindi said they will keep on putting pressure on the log leaders, hoping that they drop points in their remaining matches, much to their advantage.
“We are just trying to keep winning these last games and put pressure on the log leaders and see how the league goes. We are hoping that they can also falter just like we did. We did not manage well in some of these games because of the pressure that we have,” said Sibindi.
Sibindi said they are also dedicating the victory to Prof Dlodlo who was among the spectators. “We are happy that the Vice Chancellor also blessed us on this occasion, it was a befitting welcome for him and we really dedicate the win to him and the boys were really motivated to play,” he said. The losing coach, Lawson Nkomo said despite the defeat, he is impressed with how his charges fared in the second-half of the match thus it’s back to the drawing board for them.
“It was a tough encounter, one way or the other one of the teams was supposed to win. I am very happy with the boys, in the second half they tried to manage the game besides those few mistakes which made us concede two goals.
“We just have to go back to training and re-group and restructure and come again because we are still in the race. We are still fighting for the championship, we won’t give up until the end,” said the former Bosso defender. NUST are left with two matches to conclude their season, away against Vitality and home against Corncob. Njube Spurs however, are left with three as they have a game in hand against Talen Vision before they conclude their season against Lobengula Rovers and High Fliers. – @brandon_malvin