Mmegi

Chinyemba sees red in blockbuster fixture

Marching orders: Chinyemba. PIC: PHATSIMO KAPENG
Marching orders: Chinyemba. PIC: PHATSIMO KAPENG

FRANCISTOWN: The much-anticipated game between FNB Premier League log leaders TAFIC and Gaborone United (GU) was overshadowed by a red card to the host's coach, Elias Chinyemba.

The rescheduled blockbuster fixture between Matjimenyenga and Moyagoleele took place at the colossal Obed Itani Chilume Stadium and ended in a one-all draw. Before the game started, there was uncertainty about whether it would be played after it was postponed towards the end of last year because of a waterlogged pitch following heavy rains.

On Wednesday, it was unclear again if the game would proceed owing to persistent rain in Francistown. GU was the first to draw blood in the first half through Molaodi Tlhalefang before TAFIC equalised through Kemoneetswe Mmangwedi with a scorcher following some neat exchanges in the box. It was a game that could have gone either way. Both teams played an entertaining game but their undoing was failure to convert the avalanche of chances they created. TAFIC’s Chinyemba got his marching orders in the second half after he had a heated exchange with the referee. Chinyemba remonstrated with the referee for failing to award TAFIC a foul after its player was infringed but the decision went in GU's favour. Chinyemba had heated words with the fourth official who was trying to bring him to order but the former did not budge.

The fourth official then called the referee but still Chinyemba asserted his position and the referee gave him a yellow card before sending him off the pitch after he persisted. Although many TAFIC supporters empathised with Chinyemba following his sending-off, some were of the view that the coach could have behaved differently. After the game, TAFIC assistant coach, Lovemore Mokgweetsi, said he was constrained to talk about the sending-off because their duties as coaches are mostly limited to coaching players and not commenting about the decisions of referees. “I cannot comment about the decisions of referees because they have the discretion to take whatever decisions they think are fair. The referees are the ones who make decisions and we have no control over their decisions,” Mokgweetsi said. He added: “Overall, I think the players played very well but were let down by the failure to convert chances. We need to improve on converting our chances.”

His GU counterpart, Khalid Niyonzima, who took over on an interim basis after Pontsho Moloi ditched the team, was also not happy with his team’s failure to convert the chances they created. “We created chances in both halves but we did not convert them. We had an upper hand over TAFIC in the first half and scored an early goal. I told my players to be wary of TAFIC’s set pieces and throw-ins because they were no match to us in terms of play so they wanted to score from set pieces and throw-ins. We will go back to the drawing board and plan for our next game against VTM,” said Niyonzima.

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