CAPS Utd sing the blues

WHAT a shocker!
Newboys Blue Ribbon ended CAPS United’s storming start to the season when they handed the Green Machine their first defeat this year in the Castle Lager Premiership at Rufaro yesterday.
Blue Ribbon took over as leaders, with 10 points from four games, and – given the beauty of their performance yesterday – Misheck Chidzambwa and his men will certainly prove tough to beat.
The Harare side are yet to lose a match and marched on yesterday with goals from midfielder Talent Munetsi in the eighth minute and seasoned forward Daniel Kamunenga’s insurance effort in the 54th minute.
Tambawaguta Boys are now joint leaders with Chicken Inn but Chidzambwa’s men lead by virtue of a superior goal difference.
Interestingly, both teams yesterday featured technical benches headed by former Dynamos players.
Blue Ribbon has a bigger Dynamos presence with Chidzambwa and his assistants Biggie Zuze and Labani Kandi and, given their blue-and-white kit, it was easy to understand why they were so popular with the Glamour Boys’ fans at Rufaro yesterday.
The newboys turned on a brilliant show, which could have beaten any team in the Premiership, and were worth their special victory that was built around an impressive show by skipper Kamunenga.
He was ably supported by Munetsi and Cabby Kamhapa.
And the debutantes could have scored at least two goals in the opening 10 minutes as CAPS United, who changed their starting XI yesterday and paid a huge price for that, failed to click.
Blue Ribbon got their first goal when rightback Clive Boroma’s cross was converted by Munetsi.
CAPS United slowly came back into the match and after the half-hour mark, Simba Sithole’s shot forced a fine save from Blue Ribbon keeper Earnmore Hamandishe.
But this was by no means a solid performance by CAPS United, who struggled on all fronts, and such attacks were few and far between.
Instead, it was the newboys who controlled the game, and grew in confidence, spraying the ball around with aplomb and unsettling a surprised and jittery Green Machine.
After the restart, Sithole broke loose and fired a shot but the keeper dived to his right and punched the ball away.
But it was Blue Ribbon who were rewarded again when captain Kamunenga scored his third goal of the season.
Finding himself unmarked inside the box, his header was firm and accurate and left giant goalkeeper Eddie Sibanda stranded.
The goal was made out of some neat passes down the right with Tapiwa Kumbuyani featuring prominently.
It could have been three shortly afterwards but Kamunenga’s fierce drive, from inside the area, was touched to the post by Sibanda and then rolled across goal.
Chunga rang the changes but they never brought the desired results and when Charles Chiutsa’s header, in stoppage time, flew wide, the shocked CAPS United fans had just seen enough and started trooping out of the stadium.
A giant CAPS United fan then confronted Chunga and accused him of tampering with the team.
But, to their credit, the majority of the CAPS United fans did not turn against their coach and, at the end, some saluted him when he went to the Northern Stand after the game.
“I want to give all the players a chance and there is nothing special about changing the team,” said Chunga.
“It is one game where we were not going to win even if it was played for eight hours. Everything went wrong for us in this match and we didn’t deserve to win.
“It was one match when one or two players were in it while the rest were out. This is water under the bridge.”
Zuze said his team did well because they were not under pressure to deliver against CAPS United.
“I think the boys were hungry for the win. They worked hard for it.
“We created a lot of chances and we had told them not to panic and put themselves under pressure.
“We have started well and it has helped us to build confidence.
“But we will treat each game as it comes and we have a tricky tie on Sunday when we travel to Zim Saints and we will have to assess some of our players who received knocks today,” said Zuze.
Teams
Blue Ribbon
E. Hamandishe, T. Kumbuyani, E. Mwinga, C. Boroma, C. Kamhapa, C. Dickson, J. Jam, T. Munetsi(E. Phiri 87th minute), F. Kuswatuka(E. Katema87th minute), D. Kamunenga, T. Chitora.
CAPS United
E. Sibanda, L. Simango, N. Mukumbi, A. Chivheya, D. Walaza, S. Alimenda, D. Rediyoni(P. Tafirenyika 61st minute), T. Mangezi(N. Mkwezvaramba 56th minute), C. Chiutsa, E. Gwekwerere, S. Sithole.