Saturday, November 8 APR 3-0 Rayon Sports APR FC thrashed arch rivals Rayon Sports 3-0 in what was a one-sided Rwanda Premier League derby at Amahoro Stadium on Saturday, November 8. Ronald Ssekiganda headed home the opener from the corner in the 26th minute before William Togui doubled the lead in the 37th minute to comfortably lead the derby at half time. Then Mmamadou Sy, who was returned to the team from suspension, came from the bench to score the third in the 93rd minute. The win powered the army side to fifth place with 11 points and winning their two games in hand, against Marine FC and Etincelles FC, can see them jump to the top alongside league leaders Police FC with 17 points. APR were dominating possession from the very beginning until the 26th minute when Ssekiganda jumped highest from the box and scored the opening with a powerful header, converting Jean Bosco Ruboneka’s cross from the corner. Despite having Abedi Bigirimana back from injury, the Blues were outnumbered in the midfield. APR FC kept their dominating the game and scored second goal through William Togui with a rebound after Pavelh Ndzila saved Hakim Kiwanuka’s shot from the left wing. Taleb Abderrahim’s side firmly led the game till halftime. Rayon came into the second half looking to cut the deficit after interim Harouna Ferouzi made three substitutions with Fiston Ishimwe, Chris Rushema and Tony Kitoga coming in for Yves Habimana, who struggled at the front, Ali Serumogo Ali and Olivier Niyonzima. However, a quiet second half of few scoring opportunities from both ends, it was APR FC who had a say on the match as they made it 3-0 at the stroke of fulltime. Sy capitalized on Rayon’s defensive blunder and made a solo run past Ndzila to score the third goal to send the Lions crowd into a frenzy. This victory eased pressure on APR FC from its fans who had been unhappy with the club’s performance since beginning of the new season. Ruboneka won the player of the match award and was awarded a cash prize of Rwf100,000. Elsewhere Etincelles FC and Rutsiro FC played out a goalless draw while Gorilla FC lost 1-0 at the hands of Amagaju FC at Kigali Pele Stadium. Yves Rwasamanzi and his Marine FC side travelled to beat AS Muhanga 2-0 while Mukura VS were stunned by Gasogi United in 2-0 loss. It was a five-goal thriller at Ubworoherane Stadium as Musanze FC beat Gicumbi FC 3-2.
