Rayon Sports beat Police 2-1 on Sunday evening
Prince Rudasingwa stepped off the bench and scored a dramatic late clincher to inspire Rayon Sports to a narrow 2-1 victory over Police at Kigali Pele Stadium on Sunday evening in Rwanda Premier League.
The Rwanda U23 striker, who had been failing to get playing minutes, latched on his chance tonight and slammed in a header in dying time after Police shot-stopper Janvier Kwizera slipped up to earn Rayon Sports a fourth successive triumph in the league as they kept the title race alive.
Police came into the match aiming to demonstrate no hungover sign from their mid-week 2-0 defeat to Mukura, but they fired a blank.
The contest got off to a slow pace, fueling a dull first half with the two sides lacking sharpness and creativity. There was resolution and fierceness on the pitch in the second half, and the hosts were the first to grab the upper hand.
Heritier Luvumbu displayed his prowess in taking freekick once more as the Congolese midfielder netted a spectacular freekick from 25 yards in the 52nd minute after Moses Rurangwa tripped Charles Bbaale.
Three minutes later, Bosco Kayitaba levelled for Vincent Mashami’s side with a fine strike from a loose ball inside the box to return the score to a stalemate. From that point on, the match was neck and neck as the tension heightened.
Peter Aglbevor would have put the visitors in front when he hammered a powerful left-footed shot in the 68th minute, unfortunately for him, it hit the crossbar.
Rayon Sports regained the lead in the 87th minute when Janvier Kwizera failed to keep out Kevin Muhire’s long-range strike despite getting his hands to the ball, and Rudasingwa was in the right place at the right time to head the ball into the centre of the net.
Police’s Derrick Ndahiro was shown a straight red card after the match for his misconduct towards match official Samuel Uwikunda as several Police players roughly surrounded the referee to complain about a possible late penalty on Chuckuma Odili.
With this win, Rayon Sports are second on the table with 39 points from 20 games, six points shy of their nemesis APR, who have a game in hand.
It’s a bang-up job for Julien Mette, who has yet to lose in the league with three victories in his three Rwanda Premier League matches.
Conversely, Vincent Mashami’s team have had a dreadful record in their past five matches, having lost four times and drawn once. They have potentially domed their dream of winning the league title as they sit in fifth place on 32 points from 20 matches, 13 points behind the league leader.
There was another blow for Vincent Mashami as Didier Mugisha, who had recently returned from injury, sustained another potential severe injury in the 78th minute after coming off the bench early in the second half.
