/ 25 April 2005

Cunha scores to ease Cosmos’ blues

Relegation-threatened Jomo Cosmos eased their blues when they beat Bloemfontein Celtic by an odd goal in a tightly contested Castle Premier League tie at the Seisa Ramabodu Stadium on Sunday.

Hilton Cunha scored the only goal of the match in the 69th minute from a long clearance.

Cunha caught the hosts’ defence square and launched a quick counter-attack before beating Celtic’s veteran goalkeeper, Simon Gopane, at the near posts.

Later on, Russell Mwafulirwa failed twice to increase the score as he headed over the cross-bar, with the goalkeeper in no-man’s-land after failing to deal with a cross from Innocent Ntsume.

Securing the goal, the visitors packed their defence and kept their opponents’ strikers at bay.

Cosmos played offensively throughout the game and were wary of not making costly mistakes.

By the look of things, coach Jomo Sono would have been happy sharing the spoils, given his game plan.

But fortune favoured his side and Cosmos went home with full points, leaving Celtic frustrated.

The results saw Ezenkosi ascending the league table from the bottom of the log.

In both halves, there was a lack of finishing by the strikers, who missed scoring chances.

The hosts had their chances, but their strikers fired blanks at critical times.

Celtic’s Jurry Merahe missed a golden chance that could have earned his side a point when he fired straight into Avril Phadi’s hands just before the final whistle went off.

In the first half, Boitumelo Moleyane had his attempt blocked inside the box. — Sapa