Vusumuzi Dube
Fungai Muderere, Senior Sports Reporter
THE 2023 Castle Lager Premier Soccer League action is now upon us after a four months long wait that saw fans throng different venues to witness an opening week menu that produced six wins, three draws and two red cards.
Week One matches were played on Saturday up to Monday and they produced a total of 11 goals with defending champions FC Platinum as well as Caps United being the two clubs that managed to score over one goal.
Platinum came from behind to edge PSL newbies Simba Bhora 2-1 while in a true statement of intent Makepekepe dismissed Jairos Tapera’s mentored Manica Diamonds 2-0. There were three home wins by Yadah, Triangle and Caps United.
It was a season’s opener that produced, three home loses (Simba Bhora 1-2 FC Platinum, Cranborne Bullets 0-1 Black Rhinos, Hwange 0-1 Dynamos), two goalless draws (Highlanders 0-0 ZPC Kariba, Sheasham 0-0 Chicken Inn) and one goal scoring stalemate between Bulawayo Chiefs and Ngezi Platinum Stars who drew one all.
Simba Bhora were the only new boys that managed to find the back of the net with Sheasham, Green Fuel and PSL returnees Hwange failing to score. A total of nine teams, Sheasham, Chicken Inn, Hwange, Highlanders, ZPC Kariba, Manica Diamonds, Herentals, Cranborne Bullets and Chisumbanje based Green Fuel failed to score in opening week fixtures.
Tafadzwa Kutinyu
It was a Week One fixtures menu that saw two players being given red cards. Tafadzwa Kutinyu of Chicken Inn was sent for an early shower after 65 minutes into their game against Sheasham after a second bookable offence.
Kutinyu was first cautioned 55 minutes into play for protest after an opponent tore his jersey with the referee of the day shockingly waving play on. He was then sent for an early shower after a tackle on tear away Construction Boys’ David Mangesi who had left him for dead. Caps United’s Thulani Joseph was the other player who saw red in his team’s 2-0 triumph over Mutare based Manica Diamonds. Kutinyu and Joseph will not be available for their clubs’ Week Two and Week three fixtures.
There was a single brace from FC Platinum’s Juan Mutudza and he leads the top goal scorers’ chart.Seven other goal scorers, Mandlenkosi Mlilo (Yadah), Tinashe Makanda (Dynamos), Ronald Chitiyo (Simba Bhora), Joseph, Blessing Sarupinda (Caps United), Nkosilathi Ncube (Bulawayo Chiefs) and Qadr Amini (Ngezi Platinum Stars) sit on one goal each. Joseph netted the fastest goal of the season so far after he found the target three minutes into play.
Week One Results
Yadah 1-0 Green Fuel, Cranborne Bullets 0-1 Black Rhinos, Caps United 2-0 Manica Diamonds, Triangle United 1-0 Herentals, Highlanders 0-0 ZPC Kariba, Simba Bhora 1-2 FC Platinum, Sheasham 0-0 Chicken Inn, Bulawayo Chiefs 1-1 Ngezi Platinum, Hwange 0-1 Dynamos.
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