Online Reporter
Tadious Manyepo and Lovemore Dube
ARTHUR BANDA didn’t wait around. He struck early and decided the game before Agama could settle.
In Bulawayo, Chicken Inn had to do it the hard way. One goal, then a long, tense afternoon hanging on.
Two games, two very different stories.
At Wadzanayi, MWOS were ruthless. In Bulawayo, Chicken Inn survived.
Banda set the tone inside the opening minute, sliding in from close range after a low delivery from the left. It was simple, sharp, and it exposed Agama’s slow start.
For a moment, the home side steadied themselves. Ralph Nyamupurika finished off a neat move to level six minutes later, and it looked like they had found their footing.
They hadn’t.
MWOS stayed on the front foot. Banda kept finding space, and around the half-hour mark, he struck again, reacting quickest inside the box to restore the lead.
From there, it was control.
The second half lost its rhythm. Tackles came in, play broke up, and clear chances were hard to come by. MWOS didn’t chase the game, they managed it. Agama pushed, but without the edge needed to turn pressure into goals.
The damage had already been done.
“I am very happy with the win and the goals that I gave the team,” said Banda.
“I know it’s all about the team. We win as a team and lose as a team.
“Today was that good day in the office for me and the boys.”
The brace takes him to three goals this season, a timely response after last week’s defeat to Dynamos.
Coach Lloyd Mutasa got what he had asked for.
“Arthur has been a great fighter since the formation of this team and he’s one guy who always keeps his feet on the ground, and we hope with the kind of discipline he has, I’m sure if he keeps on like this, he will have a better season this year,” said Mutasa.
“It was a tough encounter but I think at least we managed to utilise some of the few chances that we created today.
“We made a lot of changes. We told these guys that in a game of football, you need to give it your very best. You saw how we played last year. We looked like novices but we were giving a very good shift in every game.
“But nowadays, the youngsters seem to think games are won before they are played. We had to make changes so that probably we might change their mindset.”
In Bulawayo, it wasn’t about control. It was about survival.
Chicken Inn needed a result after three matches without a win and when the chance came, they took it.
Lincoln Maingira rose highest in the 21st minute, powering home a Genius Hute corner beyond Kuda Shangiwa. Then he ran straight to the bench.
“I told him that he would score today, that is why he ran to me,” said coach Tonderayi Ndiraya.
That goal changed everything. What followed was a long defensive shift.
Hunters had the ball, created openings, and asked questions all afternoon. They just couldn’t find the finish.
“We failed to convert a lot of chances we managed to create. We should have scored one, three, four goals. We are just hoping one day we will collect our first set of maximum points,” said coach Nesbert Saruchera.
Chicken Inn knew exactly what was coming once they went ahead.
“We were playing a team with good players, very technically good players. With the experience we have in the team, we knew once we got a goal we would defend it till the end. We planned the way we played. We knew Hunters would overload the midfield and dominate possession,” said Ndiraya.
“In their dominance they created chances, we defended resolutely. We were coming into this game with some pressure on us because we had gone three games without collecting maximum points.”
The pressure grew after the break.
Denver Mukamba forced a sharp save from Tymon Mvula in the 73rd minute. Moments later, Elie Ilunga found space at the back post, only for Mvula to block from close range.
It kept coming.
Chicken Inn cleared their lines, threw bodies on the line and slowed the game whenever they could. Mvula even went into the book for time-wasting as the clock dragged.
At the back, Maingira and Itai Mabhunu stood firm.
When the whistle finally went, it wasn’t celebration. It was relief.
