DAR ES SALAAM: SIMBA coach Roberto Oliveira said his side’s defensive flaws will be resolved when center-back Henock Inonga recovers from injury while Mtibwa Sugar trainer Habibu Kondo conceded to play with tension.
A 4-2 victory at Manungu Complex in Morogoro on Thursday afternoon helped Simba to bag first maximum points of the season thanks to Jean Baleke, Willy Onana, Fabrice Ngoma and Clatous Chama who found the back of the net apiece.
For Mtibwa Sugar, Matheo Antony sealed the first brace of the season that was claimed in the 20th and 22nd minute of the opening half, capitalizing on the visitors’ defensive errors.
Both teams will play their second Premier League matches tomorrow when Simba welcome Dodoma Jiji at Uhuru Stadium in Dar es Salaam while Mtibwa Sugar will host Coastal Union at Manungu Complex in Turiani.
However, quizzed as to why his team showed several defensive blunders during the game, Oliveira replied that such problems will only be eliminated when Inonga is back to action.
“For me, Inonga is the best center-back in Africa but now he cannot play because he is injured…I used Che Malone and Kennedy Juma because I had a few options.
“Our defensive system is good but I still bank on Inonga because he is our reference together with Cha Malone,” said the Brazilian coach whose mission to win his first league title on Tanzania soil was launched with a bang.
On his part, Kondo reiterated that tension among his players made them concede two quick goals on the day while stressing that in their upcoming fixture, they will be much better.
“As you know, it was our first big match of the campaign hence my players approached it with tension even though we managed to create many scoring opportunities especially in the first half.
“The difference between us and them was that they were able to punish us from the mistakes we made and at the same time, we could not utilise their shortcomings well to score goals,” he said.
Again, Kondo, the former KMC coach seized the platform to pledge they will be much better in their next fixtures after sorting out the challenges that emerged.
Last season, Simba succeeded to record a massive 3-0 win at the same venue thanks to a hat-trick converted by Baleke whose scoring consistency at the arena continued after producing the leading goal on the day.
