Yanga narrow gap on Simba

Dar es Salaam. Striker Donald Ngoma scored twice as Young Africans marched closer to the summit of the Mainland Premier League with a 4-0 win over Mtwara’s Ndanda FC at Uhuru Stadium in the city yesterday. The Jangwani Street boys scored two more goals through Amis Tambwe and Vicent Bossou to move to within one point of league leaders Simba, who were not in action yesterday.

The convincing victory means Yanga sit second in the league table with 40 points from 18 games, one adrift of Simba, who confront Ruvu Shooting this afternoon at the same venue.

Yesterday’s victory came as a relief for Yanga fans who were left puzzled when their team dropped two vital points in their one-all draw with less fancied African Lyon last week.

The well-attended match started at a cracking pace with Yanga pressing upfront relentlessly in search of an early match-opener.

It took them just three minutes to break the stalemate through Ngoma who beat Ndanda goalkeeper Jeremiah Kisubi with a superb header off a Haruna Niyonzima corner.

Two minutes later, Ndanda survived a scare when Young Africans’ defender Juma Abdul unleashed a thunderbolt that narrowly missed target. Another chance for Yanga to stretch the lead came in the ninth minute when Emmanuel Martin beat two defenders on the edge of the box, but his sizzling shot went a few centimetres wide.

In the 21st minute, Ngoma came into the mark again, this time with a tricky shot after he was set up by Juma Abdul. Celebrations that greeted the goal had hardly died down when Tambwe made it 3-0 for the defending champions in the 25th minute.

The goal was initiated by Niyonzima who beat two defenders before placing the ball to Tambwe who, in turn, easily beat goalie Kisubi with a tricky shot.

Ndanda briefly took the game to the hosts and ought to have equalised in the 26th minute when Martin broke through only to see his effort go a few cetimetres wide.