Benza the hero as Students win psl season opener

Harare Bureau
Herentals 1-0 Harare City

TINOTENDA Benza became the first player to score a goal in the Castle Lager Premiership, after the two-year enforced break, with the priceless strike which sank Harare City, at the National Sports Stadium, yesterday.

It meant Herentals, a club owned by his father and teammate Innocent, also became the first team to win a league game after the lengthy Covid-19 break.

They also became the first club, in the domestic Premiership, to keep a clean sheet, in the championship race, after the longest break in its history.

Clearly, from a Herentals perspective, all these statistics, provide a reason for them to be happy.

After all, they had to fight a long, and tough boardroom battle, just to ensure they play in the championship again.

At the end of the last championship race, two years ago, the Students were thrown out of the league, by the PSL, on allegations they had manipulated the result of their stunning 3-0 win over Black Rhinos.

However, they refused to be bullied into both silence and surrender.

And, driven by the belief they were innocent, just like the name of their club president, they plunged into the trenches and fought a bitter boardroom battle, to clear their name.

In the end, their spirited efforts were rewarded when the ZIFA Appeals Committee found them not guilty, while another attempt, to throw them out of the league, for taking matters to the High Court, was also thrown out.

Yesterday, they played their first league match, since all that drama, and beat Harare City, who came into this match as favourites, to take all three points.

It was their second win, over the Sunshine Boys, in as many weeks, after having beaten them, in the second round, of the Chibuku Super Cup.

Herentals coach, Kumbirai Mutiwekuziva, said it was the perfect start for his men in a season in which they are fighting to finish in a respectable position.

”I am happy and winning the first match gives the players confidence and encouragement,” he said.

”We were ready for the game and we managed to win after unsettling them in the opening minutes, which disrupted their game plan.

“There is a lot of improvement for the team as the team we managed to beat today made it into the Chibuku Cuper Cup quarter-finals while we finished bottom of the standings.

“We managed to contain a team that is so good at passing the ball around and I am looking to continue with the improvement in our next assignments.”

The Students struck early when Willmore Chimbetu picked out Tino Benza who opened his account of the season with a composed finish.

Tino partnered his father throughout the first half in the team’s attack and could have found the back of the net, at least twice, had it not been for the brilliance of Harare City goalkeeper Kelvin Shangwa.

City coach, Lloyd Chitembwe, rubbished reports he was now on the verge of re-joining CAPS United.

“That is pure insult and I am someone who honours his contracts and I don’t even know where this is coming from as the people peddling those lies have not bothered to ask me,” he said.

“I am still the Harare City coach as you can see that I am here unless if they are to tell me that I am no longer wanted then I can pack my bags.”

The gaffer highlighted they were under pressure as they were missing some of their regular players, who include captain Marshall Machazane, Hastings Chapusha and Jerry Chipangura.

“We played well overally, as we dominated position from the onset but we failed in the final third, which is something which we are going to work on.

”The game was good and it is unfortunate that we lost,” he said.