Rayon Sports Women football club head coach Mohamed Nonde has lamented that bad pitch cost his club during their 1-0 Peace Cup quarter final first leg defeat to APAER on Wednesday, April 19 at Rugende Stadium. READ ALSO: Rayon Sports Women sign Imanizabayo In a 30-second video footage that circulated on social media, players from both teams are seen in contention of a ball on a flooded pitch located at Rugende football ground. Football enthusiasts were left disappointed to see match officials allow teams to play on a football pitch that was so flooded that the ball could could rarely move. Nonde admits that his team lost the first leg match due to the conditions of the pitch that were not friendly to his players who hence failed to adapt to the game. “That was not a football pitch at all... maybe a swimming pool, even the ball wouldn’t move for a half meter on the ground,” Nonde told Weekend Sport on Thursday. “We complained to the match commissioner that we would not play a competitive match on such a football ground like that but he rejected our request.” “It’s unbelievable how the officials decided that game should be played in those conditions, may be there was something behind it but that won’t be an excuse for us because we have a second leg game at home next week.” Rayon have an uphill task to overcome the 1-0 deficit when they welcome APAER in a second leg match scheduled at Nzove Stadium on April 26 to avoid shock elimination. Club striker Florance Imanizabayo, who struggled to find the back of the net during the first leg, told Times Sport in a telephone interview that they still have a chance to knock APAER out to progress to the semifinals. READ ALSO: Who is Florence Imanizabayo, Rayon Sports' goal machine? “ Of course that’s not the result we wanted but we still have a game at home, so everything is in our hands,” said Zabayo. “The pitch wasn’t good may be that is why we lost the game but I know we will bounce back.”
