Questions Galore As Mutare City, Buffaloes Clash Ends In 90 minutes

Mutare Correspondent

The much anticipated Mutare derby pitting Buffaloes and Mutare City Rovers ended in a cluster of questions this past Saturday as the referee ended the match at exactly 90 minutes.

Mutare Showgrounds indeed displayed a show which was however short lived by a referees decision which left many baffled.

The second half between the two Mutare based power houses was marred by a 7 minute stoppage after Buffaloes veteran defender Patrick Alifasi got a red card for denying an opponent from scoring.

The veteran defender almost spent 6 to 8 minutes of normal play contesting the referees decision.
Police intervention also dragged the delay as he was threatening the referee on the decision.
On the 78th minute of the game Buffaloes goalkeeper twisted his leg in one of the crucial attacks by Gusha Bhora delaying the game by another possible 5 to 6 minutes.

Mutare City Rovers gaffer Luke Masomere questioned the referees decision citing that a lot of stoppage time should have been added.

He said, “The game was okay, we played well. We had chances to win the game and throughout the match we created better scoring chances than Buffaloes. I was very surprised when the referee was supposed to add 10 minutes or so of added time he didn’t even add a single minute or second. I really don’t know why he did that because there was a lot of stoppage in the second half, the goalkeeper faking injuries every now and then but l’m happy with the result.”

The first half also saw the game halting for nearly 10 minutes Buffaloes protested on a penalty decision on 18th minute in favor of Mutare City Rovers.

Attempts to make to contact the officiating team was fruitless till time of publication.

Buffaloes head coach Shadreck Mugurasave was the game was marked by so many chances that were not utilised hence the deadlock.
“We had our chances and they had their chances. I am happy with the team’s performance as you can see this is a young team. I only have two guys who are over 25 and the rest is 23 and 24. It’s a team that is coming from scratch.”

He added that Alifasi red card will not cost the team.

“We have a lot of players and it’s not a problem. We will replace Fancho with another singing.”

Mutare City Rovers would have snatched a win in 18th minute but the penalty was.

Commenting on the penalty miss Masomere said, “It happens world over even your best player can also miss a penalty. He is the captain and he is the one who has been taking penalties even last season.”