Roberto Oliveira Goncalves do Carmo was full of praise for his players after Rayon Sports defeated Musanze 2-1 at Ubworoherane Stadium on Saturday. The Blues were in great form as they came from a goal down to put Musanze on the sword at home to remain in the title race. Following APR’s 2-1 win over AS Muhanga at Kigali Stadium on Sunday, APR lead the table standings with 29 points, three ahead of second-placed Mukura Victory Sports who were held by Marines to a 1-all draw at Umuganda Stadium. Oliveira’s Rayon Sports are in third position with 25 points from 13 games. APR have two games in hand while Francis Haringingo’s Mukura have played three games less. During Saturday’s hard-earned victory, Burundi international Bonfils Caleb Bimenyimana put Rayon Sports level at 1-1 from a beautiful free-kick just before the break, cancelling Philbert Shyaka’s opener for the hosts in the 4th minute. The visitors dominated the ball possession in the second half and kept pushing to take the lead but all efforts through Bimenyimana, Jonathan Rafael da Silva, and Prosper Donkor were in vain until four minutes to time when midfielder Olivier Niyonzima scored the winner with a superb finish from Suleiman Mudeyi’s curling cross in the box. It was Rayon Sports’ eight league win this term. Only Mukura have more (9) wins. Speaking to members of the press in a post-match interview, Brazilian Roberto said, “This is the kind of spirit and attitude we have to carry at every match. I am not surprised with team’s performance today, we have good players and I am well aware of what they are capable of.” “I am actually convinced there is a lot more to come from them, especially players like Caleb and Olivier. They were wonderful but the whole team performed excellently and I can’t be happier. Definitely we deserved the victory, we controlled the game the entire time,” he added. Musanze head coach Emmanuel Ruremesha attributed his team’s loss to individual mistakes that resulted in the set pieces which their opponents took advantage of to score two goals. The former Rayon coach said, “We have lost but it was because of our own undoing, we committed several unnecessary errors, which cost us dearly.” editorial@newtimes.co.rw
