Simba won their third straight league game in a row with a performance that was dominant in the first half but shaky in the second. This was a game of two halves which were also filled with sub plots of their own.
 

First half
 

The main feature of the half was the 3 v 2 midfield battle. Simba dominated possession and rightfully so due to a man advantage in midfield. With Shooting’s 4-1-3-2 essentially a 4-4-2 with one of the two central midfielder laying deep and Simba a 4-2-3-1 it was a 3 v 2 in central midfield in Simba’s favour. This 3 v 2battle was played out in two sub plots. Earlier in the half Chombo who played behind Sunzu had time and space to receive the ball between the lines but not much damage was done to Shooting. The real damage came in the second sub plot. After realizing that Chombo was getting too much of the ball, Shooting’s holding midfielder decided to stick close to him presumably following Mkwasa’s order. This meant that the other midfielder was left to deal with both Kazimoto and Kiemba. He simply couldn't keep up and Kazimoto managed to get long range efforts with one getting a deflection and the other going wide. Simba’s goal came as a result of a rampaging run forward by Kazimoto who laid the ball to his right back Masoud. A well whipped cross plus a thumping header from Sunzu gave Simba the lead.
 

 

 

 

Juma Kaseja
Nassor Masoud
Amir Maftah
Juma Nyoso
Shomary Kapombe
Ramadhan Chombo
Mrisho Ngassa​

Mwinyi Kazimoto
Daniel Akuffo
Amri Kiemba
Felix Sunzu

Simba: 4-2-3-1

R. Shooting 4-1-3-2

Benjamin Haule
Michael Pius
Mau Bofu
George Michael
Said Suzan
Gideon David
Abdulrahman Mussa
Hassan Dilunga
Paul Ndauka
Hussein Said
Said Dilunga

With all the possession that they had they never really managed to get behind their opponent’s defense. Ngasa was again on the left but drifted inwards. Chapombe didn’t make many overlapping runs to compliment this inward movement and the only time he was up was through an in lapping run.
 

Shooting were stronger on their right hand side and play usually started from this side. They managed to overcome Simba’s pressing which was initiated by Ngasa. Their best chance of the half came from a cross from this wing but the header was put over the bar.
 

Sunzu took up a position slightly ahead of the front post when Simba were defending a corner. Shooting’s first corner was headed away by him and how the next two were taken was clearly influenced by Sunzu’s positioning. The second corner was played short while the third was judged to have gone out of play before reaching the far post. It would seem the idea here was to bypass Sunzu by going long to the far post but the execution was poor.
 

Lastly Kiemba was caught on the ball or misplaced a pass and on two occasions Shooting were in a position to mount a counter attack but as with so many of their attacking play in the first half it fizzled upon entering the attacking third.
 

Second half
 

The second half appeared to offer the opposite of the first. Simba’s kiembe and Kazimoto seemed to have switched sides with the latter now plating more on the left rather than the right where he had started. Secondly Shootings attacking now came down their left wing as opposed to the right in the first half. Thirdly Simba’s domination had waned and so had Chombo’s influence on the game being later substituted. There was no change in personnel or formation so it seemed that Shooting was now playing with greater verve.
 

Shooting’s attacks down their left caught Simba’s central midfield area unguarded. This was because during the defensive phase Ngasa did not drop level with his two central holding midfielders but rather stayed slightly higher thus unbalancing the midfield line. His dribbling though had begun to cause problems.
 

Shooting were then gifted a goal when Kaseja and Nyoso unnecessarily tried to play out from the back. With that Shooting seemed to be content with a draw and sometimes carelessly lost possession. Simba’s winning goal came when shooting lost the ball by playing it long. Simba recovered it and mounted an attack through Ngasa who had now moved to the right wing. His pass found Edward who finished off the move.
 

The main tactical feature of this game was the 3v2 in central midfield. Having a holding midfielder between the lines of four defenders and three midfielders in a 4-1-3-2 formation does not in any way help to combat the midfield superiority of a 4-2-3-1 since it will always be one man short in the central area as was demonstrated through this match. The only worry for Cirkovick will be the failure of his team to continue dominating the game in the second  albeit the formations remained the same.

A 3 v 2 in central midfield. 4-2-3-1 numerical superiority over the 4-1-3-2 leading to  Simba's first half domination