By Flata Kavinga
Hardrock Football Club moved to the top of the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League table after securing a convincing 3-0 victory over former champions Simba Bhora at Chahwanda Stadium today.
The match, which was played under heavy security presence, saw Hardrock produce a strong performance as they capitalised on defensive lapses from the visitors to claim maximum points.
Washington Navaya was the hero for the home side after scoring twice, while Samuel Makawa added the other goal to complete a comfortable win.
Speaking after the match, Hardrock head coach Kelvin Kaindu said his team responded well after going two matches without a victory and showed the depth within the squad.
“It’s a very important win for us. We haven’t won in the last two games but today we responded positively,” said Kaindu.
“We made three changes to the team, and it showed that we have players who can come in and perform when given the chance.”
Kaindu praised his players’ defensive organisation, saying the clean sheet demonstrated the progress the team has made since gaining promotion into the top-flight league.
“Scoring three goals and keeping a clean sheet shows how much confidence we are building in the team. I am particularly happy with the way we defended today,” he said.
“We did not give our opponents moments where they looked like they would get a goal. Our ability to play from the back also shows that we are becoming more stable defensively.”
The coach said Hardrock’s immediate focus remained on establishing themselves in the Premier Soccer League despite their early success.
“As a team coming from Division One, our first objective is to stay in the Premier League. We take every game as it comes,” Kaindu said.
For Simba Bhora, coach Mandla Mpofu expressed disappointment with the result, although he felt his team’s performance did not fully reflect the scoreline.
Mpofu said his side had a good game plan early on but were punished by costly mistakes.
“We are very disappointed with the result. We had a good game plan in terms of closing spaces and not giving our opponents many opportunities around the box,” he said.
“They were pressing us very high and when we tried to play from the back, we made a mistake and were punished.”
Mpofu said conceding late in the first half affected his team’s confidence, although he felt they improved after the break.
“We came back a better team in the second half and tried to minimise opportunities. Overall, in terms of performance, I am not worried, but the scoreline is disappointing,” he said.
The Simba Bhora coach admitted that the team’s recent run of results was a concern but remained optimistic about their chances with several matches still to play.
“We still have 18 games to play. We will soldier on,” Mpofu said.
He added that the team needed to address individual errors that had contributed to costly goals conceded in recent matches.
