Simba, under the temporary control of Uganda-born coach Jackson Mayanja made the most of a thrilling 2-2 stalemate between Young Africans ‘Yanga’ and Azam to go top of the Tanzanian Premier League at the weekend.

Danny Lyanga’s opener and an own goal from Hassan Mwasapili saw Simba emerge with a 2-0 victory over Mbeya City to dislodge Yanga at the summit of the standings.

However, the scoreline fails to tell the full story of a game in which Simba struggled and were far from convincing.

Under the tutelage of former Malawi national team coach, Kinnah Phiri, Mbeya City frustrated Simba striking duo of Ibrahim Hajib and Hamisi Kiiza who struggled to beat the offside trap.

After a barren first half, Simba introduced Lyanga, Awadh Juma and Ramadhan Hassan who turned the game around.

Lyanga opened the scoring for Simba in the 75th minute with a simple tap-in after Mbeya City’s goalkeeper Hannington Kalyesubula had spilled a shot from Awadh Juma onto his path.

Hajib, creator of the first goal was also instrumental in the second goal for Simba, sneaking his way into the Mbeya defence before seeing his miscued shot deflected off Mwasapili into his own net.

On Saturday, defending champions, Yanga and Azam played out to a 2-2 draw that leaves both at 47 points having each played 20 games.

Yanga right back, Juma Abdul broke the deadlock scoring with an own goal in the tenth minute but turned from zero to hero within 18 minutes with an equalizer from a powerful long range shot.

A tightly marked Donald Ngoma expertly laid the ball to Amissi Tambwe whose shot was blocked but Abdul who was just outside the box pounced on the rebound and sent a powerful shot past Aishi Manula.

Ngoma put Yanga ahead in the 40th minute finishing a rebound shot from Tambwe’s attempt.

A second half onslaught by Azam saw them get a well-deserved equalizer from captain John Bocco who chested down Kipre Tchetche’s pass before slamming a shot past Ally Mustapha on 75 minutes.

With nine games to go, the weekend results mean it is still a three-horse race for the Tanzanian Premier League title