Premiership debutants Scottland flexed their muscles with a comprehensive 2-0 victory over CAPS United in a Castle Lager Premier Soccer League match played at Rufaro Stadium yesterday.
Tonderai Ndiraya’s charges, who were below par in their first match in the country’s top flight and were somewhat lucky to edge Triangle United 1-0 last week, were a much-improved side and deservedly emerged victorious against Makepekepe.
The return of former Kaizer Chiefs star Khama Billiat buoyed the moneybags, who looked dangerous with every attack from start to finish.
They could have drawn first blood on the stroke of half-time when Walter Musona came through on goal after a miscommunication in the CAPS defence, but the reigning Soccer Star of the Year uncharacteristically fluffed his lines and failed to beat a badly exposed Harmony Nare in goal for CAPS.
Nothing could separate the two sides at the halftime interval as a very entertaining first half ended goalless.
Scotland took the lead four minutes into the second half when Tymon Machope fired home from close range after a brilliant through ball from Billiat.
CAPS should have restored parity in the 72nd minute, but Jayden Bakari found himself in acres of space inside the Scotland box and was brilliantly denied by Talbert Shumba.
Another big chance for CAPS to draw level came in the 85th minute, but Brian Kadamanja’s header from a Bruce Kangwa corner was well parried away from danger by Shumba.
Substitute Sadney Urikhob put the final nail in the CAPS coffin when he finished off a brilliant counter-attack move to ensure a deserved three points for Mabviravira.
Ndiraya was naturally delighted with how his charges fared.
“We were playing a very good team. If you play against a good team, a big team for that matter, and then you get a result, a very comfortable result, then that means you are doing well,” Ndiraya told the media after the game.
His counterpart, Lloyd Chitembwe, bemoaned defensive errors and blamed them for his side’s loss.
“I felt we could have done better in terms of the output, which is the result. Both goals were as a result of defensive errors,” said Chitembwe.
Photo credits : Libertino
