ADDIS ABABA – As the second round of the Ethiopian Premier League, EPL, began Mekele Saba Inderta extended their unbeaten run to ten with a comfortable 4-1 victory over the bottom side Dedebit on Sunday at Mekele stadium. The victory helped Mekele to consolidate their EPL leadership on 38 points from 16 games, six points clear from the second placed Fasil City.
Mekele are in the driving seat winning all their unprecedented ten matches in a row. This is rarely seen in the elite league. Their coach Gebremedhin Haile said that he will keep up this winning spirit for his side to win title in this season. At the end of the first round Mekele collected the full three points with a 1-0 win over the defending champions Jimma Abajifar in Mekele.
That was indeed a morale boosting victory for the side. It seems now they are making fast progress towards the crown. Gebre’s campaign for the second title in a row with different sides has also been moving in a direction unseen in the past. The coach who simply synchronized the Jimma and the former Mekele players in the short span of time’ made dramatic improvement for the season’s hopeful title contender.
If Gebre succeeds to take title this season it will be the second time in two years. He will also be the first coach to take title two times in a row with different sides. The defeat further deteriorates the position of Dedebit on the bottom of the table on 4 points from 16 games. Mathematically they have the chance for survival, but their current performance doesn’t indicate any sign of recovery. For the second time in this season the highly experienced Saint George suffered a devastating 1-0 away defeat at the hands of Bahir Dar City.
St. George faced a 1-0 upset in the opening day of the EPL at the Addis Ababa stadium. That actually created shock for the huge St. George fans. Every St. George fan expected that their side will revenge in the return leg at Bahir Dar but it was not to be so. They dropped six points at the hands of Bahir Dar City. This defeat made their chance to close in on the gap with league leaders difficult. Now they are adrift of 12 points from Mekele Saba Inderta. That makes it difficult to remain title contender unless they make quick recovery.
So far with 14 wins, St. George are the unrivalled record holders in the Ethiopian Premier League’s 22 years history. The others title winners are Electric and Hawassa City two times each, Coffee, Dedebit and Jimma Abajifar took title once each. This time Mekele look the hopeful to take that share. For the winners Bahir Dar City this created a good opportunity to remain in the middle of the table. Bahir Dar joined the elite league at the start of this season but they managed to create upset by beating St. George in their first appearance at the Addis Ababa stadium.
Their coach Pawlos Getachew, widely known as Mango, has shown strength until the end of the first round compared to the other two sides, South Police and Shire Sihul who promoted at the start of the season. South Police had shown an unexpected recovery through the newly appointed coach Gebrechristos Birara. On Sunday they enjoyed a 2-0 away win over Mekelakeya at the Addis Ababa stadium.
This was the third successive wins after Gebrechristos was appointed as coach. With this win he jumped two ladders up to stand 12th on 15 points. The losers Mekelakeya failed to make progress after suffering a wide margin defeat two times in a row. Their coach Seyoum Kebede complained that injury forced him to face repeated defeat. Coffee who travelled to Dire Dawa dropped points after facing a 1-0 defeat at the hands of the home Dire Dawa City side.
Coffee never recovered even after sacking their coach a month or so ago. Dire Dawa Coach Simon Abay expressed his delight by winning over Coffee. He said his side are now 11th on 18 points. With the inertia that he enjoyed with this win he predicted that his side will avoid relegation threat this season. Fasil City stand second after a 2-0 home win over Sidama Coffee on 32 points from 16 games. The losers Sidama went one down to take the third place.
Shire Sihul remained the second from the bottom with a 1-1 away tie with Wolayita Dicha on 12 points from 16 games. The defending champions Jimma Abajifar dropped two points after a goalless draw with visiting side Adama City. On Saturday Wolwalo Adigrat University also dropped two points with a goalless tie with Hawassa City. This was the only EPL match that took place on Saturday. All other seven games carried out on Sunday. The good news in the first day of the second round was that in all venues the games were concluded without any crowed disturbance.
The Ethiopian Herald, March 19/2019
BY SOLOMON BEKELE
