By Tatiana Mhararira
Masvingo United FC popularly known as Una Una in football circles recently suffered a setback in the Pacific Storm Eastern Region Soccer League (ERSL) succumbing to Tongogara United FC in a 4-nil loss during match day 10 at Ratings Stadium in Chipinge.
Despite the team’s defensive discipline having been recorded as one of the best during the first seven matches where the team did not concede any goal, Una Una suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of the Chipinge side.
Una Una conceded its first goal when it drew played one all against Great Zimbabwe University FC.
In the following match Una Una won 3-2 against Mutare City Rovers raising questions of what could have happened to the defensive side the whole team.
Speaking to TellZim News, Masvingo United Spokesperson, Omen Mafa said they lost the game against Tongogara United FC which he described as a tough match saying they picked lessons.
“We lost the game against the Chipinge based team. It was not an easy game as the home team came out stronger than us.
“However this was our first defeat of the season. We learnt a lot from that defeat. Our focus is now on our next game against Renco Mine FC. We are confident that we are still on the right track,” said Mafa.
Mafa said their hopes for Premier Soccer League were not dimmed and they will maintain the form and keep focus on returning to the top spot.
“We are still on the right track. We defeated two big Mutare clubs, Mutare City Rovers and Buffaloes FC. That is a sign that we are not in this league to add numbers. We are rallying behind our goals. We are yet to play a number of games but we are not worried, we will take each and every game as it comes,” said Mafa.
One of Una Una fans, Samson Tatenda Masunga said the result was against their expectations but hoped that mistakes of the game were corrected in preparation for the next one.
“We expected a win but football being football we lost the game with many goals. We hope the technical team will correct the errors as we prepare for the upcoming league games with the PSL goal in our minds,” said Masunga.
Tongogara United FC chairperson, Ngongo Kilengu said the team demonstrated outstanding results against Masvingo United even though it was their first time in the league.
“Our team showcased outstanding results when they won against Una Una and this being our first time in the ERSL division one it have not been an easy journey. We also won against Mutare City Rovers which is also one of our biggest achievements,” said Kilengu.
Kilengu said they went beyond the society’s views which thought that refugees could not display good football.
“This season being our first in the ERSL people thought refugees are not good at football so we are rubbing off the perception showing that refugees can also showcase their talent. Currently our player Tshipamba Babadi is the top goal scorer and during the game against Una Una he scored 3 goals to make them 9,” said Kilengu.
Currently Masvingo United seats on position four with 17 points FC Hunters maintained its lead with three points ahead of the Tenax FC which is second placed and Buffaloes FC is on third place with 18 points.
At the bottom of the table is GZU FC with 8 points while Chivhu FC and Manica Diamonds U19 are yet to register their first win of the season, both with 3 points.
