ADDIS ABABA – Mekele Saba Inderta enjoyed a 1-0 home win over Wolayita Dicha in the Ethiopian Premier League, EPL, 19th week match at Mekele international stadium on Sunday. The result helped Mekele to further consolidate their leadership on 42 points from 19 games, eight clear for the second placed Sidama Coffee.
For Mekele Saba Inderta this was the first time in three matches to collect the full three points. Last week they suffered a 1-0 away defeat at the hands Fasil City. A week before that Mekele dropped two points as a result of a 1-1 tie against Wolwalo Adigrat University.
Mekele’s head Coach Gebremedhin Haile in the end remarked that he was delighted that his side returned to winning form in two weeks time. “Our campaign to the season’s EPL title is now coming back in good form.
Though we dropped points in our previous two matches the effort my boys had shown was quite impressive but his time they achieved what we wanted most; the precious three points,” Gebremedhin said during the post match press conference.
The newly appointed Wolayita Dicha coach Ashenafi Bekele said that his players played well to secure the three points but late penalty awarded to them frustrated that ambition. Ashenafi didn’t complain about the penalty in his post match press conference.
The 80,000 – capacity stadium was full to capacity. The highly enthusiastic fans of Mekele Saba Inderta were singing and dancing all through to the end. When their side got the winning goal all jumped in to air with jubilation. Believing that the trophy is within their reach the fans returned home with wild celebration on the road. Sidama Coffee took the second spot on 34 points after securing a 1-0 away win over Adama City.
Adama’s hope to finish within the top four looks difficult to fulfil. Saint George who travelled to Tigray finished a goalless tie with Shire Sihul. Last week, St. George suffered a 1-0 defeat at the hands of the last season champions Jimma Abajifar. The result indicates that St. George’s bid to the season’s title looks bleak as they are 12 points adrift of the league leaders. Dire Dawa succeeded in collecting the full three points with a 2-0 home win over the visiting side Jimma Abajifar.
It is now confirmed that Jimma will never defend their title hereafter. Dedebit enjoyed their third win in the season on Sunday at the Addis Ababa stadium following a 2-1 win over the struggling Mekelakeya on a muddy pitch. This was a victory earned after they conceded defeat at the hands of Coffee on Thursday.
Mekelakeya are now 13th on 18 points while Dedebit remained the bottom side on 10 points from 19 games. The Ethiopian Football Federation is happy because in the last four or five weeks there was no crowed disturbance in all venues. The federation decided to take strong actions against those who violate the rule and regulation of football. The action is expected to stretch up to point reduction along with money fine and home pitch suspension. If a match is interrupted, the next day the home team will be forced to play in an empty stadium. The trend now looks very peaceful in and around the stadium in all venues. If things continue this way the season’s EPL is expected to come to a colourful conclusion.
The Ethiopian Herald April 9, 2019
