Winning streak — Scottland beats top Angola team

Scottland — (0) 2
Petro de Luanda — 0

This is what dreams are made of.

Three games, no defeat, no goal conceded and a win for the ages for Scottland in this CAF Championw League match at the National Sports Stadium yesterday.

The Mabvuku side needed their veterans Khama Billiat and Knowledge Musona to break down the resistance from 10-man Petro de Luanda and take a healthy advantage in the first leg of this second round match.

The home side, who are playing for the first time in Africa, got a huge boost when Billiat gave them a 66th minute lead.

He then set up Musona for the insurance goal 10 minutes from time.

The two-goal advantage will be crucial ahead of the return leg in Angola this coming Friday.

Scottland coach Norman Mapeza believes the duos’ experience will be needed more in their quest for a group phase berth on the first attempt.

“That’s why they’re here. I spoke about it on Saturday. I said, look, I think whatever they bring to the team, I can’t place any value on it. It’s priceless,” said Mapeza.

The Scottland players were showered with a US$150 000 bonus by club president Scott Sakupwanya and Joachim Chivayo, brother to the late club benefactor Wicknell Chivayo who died last month in a helicopter crash.

The win yesterday did not come on a silver platter despite their opponents playing one man short for almost the entire match.

Petro de Luanda’s goalkeeper Hugo Marques was shown a straight red card by South African referee Abongile Tom for a dangerous challenge outside the box on Panashe Mutimbanyoka about 25 seconds into the game.

The Angolans had to sacrifice midfielder Mario Barlbudia to accommodate second choice goalkeeper Maulucano, who was a bundle of nerves early on.

Maulucano scrambled a powerful strike from Billiat and was almost caught off guard by Musona as Scottland seized the momentum early on.

The goalkeeper strayed off the line in a desperate attempt to clear danger but he only had the job half done.

Scottland fans were already on their feet when veteran Musona controlled the turnover ball and attempted to lob over the defence but the ball narrowly sailed over the crossbar.

Scottland continued with their patient build-ups while the visitors clogged the midfield and were happy to let them have the ball, while they kept a low defensive block.

The tactic seemed to work in frustrating the hosts as Luanda managed to contain all the raids and ensured the teams went to the breather goalless.

Scottland returned from the interval unchanged despite the first half frustrations and the glaring shortcomings especially in wide areas.

Perhaps the biggest let down was on the right flank where Emmanuel Jalai looked ineffective after he was thrust into a more forward position.

Scottland still enjoyed the upper hand in front of an appreciative crowd after CAF capped attendance to 10,000.

A good scoring opportunity immediately fell on Billiat soon after the restart but the forward disappointingly dragged his shot wide with the keeper at his mercy.

Musona also forced a good save from Maulucano after the goalkeeper had left his area, again in a desperate measure to thwart the advancing Scottland dangerman.

The introduction of Walter Musona for the ineffective Jalai proved a masterstroke.

Scottland also changed their plan and started using width.

Walter Musona drew his markers to the wide right and then sent in a brilliant cross that was met by Billiat, to break the deadlock in the 66th minute.

Scottland continued to play with confidence and the conviction paid off when Billiat raced into the opposition territory before drawing two men to himself.

This created space for Knowledge Musona who responded with aplomb to the pass from his long-time friend to double Scottland’s tally.

Mapeza still insisted they had to dig deep

“Playing against 10 men is never easy. Such games are difficult,” Mapeza said.

“First half, we kept pushing. They looked very organised. There were so many guys in the back, and like I said, the second half, I spoke to the guys to not try to attack through the centre. It was congested over there.

“Then we have had to go through the flanks and we got our goals, I think, through the flanks. So, you can tell that they’re very experienced. Because if we didn’t have that quality to bring on those crosses, maybe it was going to end up nil-nil.

“But we brought in Walter. I think he gave us what we were looking for,” Mapeza said.

Petro de Luanda coach Jao Pedro Sousa felt the early red card destablised his team.