The underdogs, Madombidzha Arsenal, played their hearts out to silence their much-feared enemies, Benny's Care. They managed to beat them 1-0 in the Safa Vhembe SAB match played at Madombidzha on Sunday.
Benny's enjoyed more ball possession, but their promising moves were turned into a nightmare by the rock-solid defence of Arsenal. No goals were seen during the first half. This was influenced mainly by the fact that Benny's were cooling the ball down in the middle of the park, thus giving their opponents no chance to do as they pleased.
Arsenal's strength was in their solid defence and their strikers, but they lacked cohesion in the middle of the park. The balls that threatened the defence of Arsenal were ballooned from behind. Benny's had a scoring opportunity early in the second half, but their striker, Andani Nemalili, shot wide with only the keeper, Rendani Maduwa, left.
The centre forward of Benny's, Rendani Galdzane, went into the referee's book, following a dangerous attack on Mbengeni Rambuwani.
The home team had an opportunity in the 78th minute and Matodzi Mutangwa scored easily. Their opponents should have equalised two minutes later, but Lesedi Kapinga shot into the keeper's hands.
The boys from the academy soon realised that it was not their day when they missed three beautiful chances in the 84th, 86th and 88th minute respectively. The players who made the supporters jump up from their seats in disbelief were Khuliso Mudau, Loyd Davhana and Marubini Manyane.