Ten-man APR win Kagame Cup opener

Kagame Cup club championship Yesterday APR 2-1 Vital’O Today TP Mazembe v TelkomRayon Sport v St. George RWANDA’s league champion APR opened their 2010 Cecafa/Kagame Club Championship campaign a hard earned 2-1 win against Burundian champions Vital’O in the opening of the tournament played evening at Amahoro stadium. Haruna Niyonzima’s opener after just four minutes and an own goal from defender Leopold Nkurukiye on the 22nd minutes earned what was a deserved victory for the military side, which is hunting a third Cecafa Club Campionship title. DR Congolese born midfielder Bolima Matemba benefited from APR’s defensive mix-up to score a consolation goal for Vital’O on the 26th minutes. The home team made a bright start to the match which was played under the evening rain. Kabange Twite, Didier Rogba, Victor Nyirenda and Niyonzima were all over the Vital’O midfielder throughout the first 45 minutes. And it was Rogba who was brought down in the penalty area but Kabange missed the resulting penalty kick. Vital’O goalkeeper Jeff Nzokira, who was voted man of the match, saved the penalty but Niyonzima was on hand to score the rebound. Nkurukiye turned Rogba’s delicious cross from the right flank when under pressure from the advancing bodies of Niyonzima and Nyirenda. Chimanga Mutamba and Jean Bosco Uwacu got involved in a defensive mix-up from which Bolima benefited to reduce the deficit for the Burundi side. There were no more goals despite an absorbing remaining part of the match. Vital’O came from recess with high confidence and they partly dominated the opening period of the half but could not find the equalizer. However, APR were reduced to ten men after Malawian international striker Nyirenda was shown a straight red card by Djibouti referee Farah Ali for the official deemed as a deliberate foul on Gilbert Kaze. APR now leads group A with three points. Ends