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Tadious Manyepo Sports Reporter
FORMER CAPS United duo of Ronald “Rooney” Chitiyo and goalkeeper Simba Chinani are driving Northern Region Division One Soccer promotion hopefuls Simba Bhora from the front with the pair bagging prestigious awards for the month of July.
Chinani was expelled at Makepekepe for his role in an embarrassing sit-in that almost saw the Green Machine failing to fulfil a league match against Cranborne Bullets at the National Sports Stadium earlier this year.
Chitiyo, just like Chinani, was also shown the red-card by the Harare giants before he was pardoned along with Devon Chafa and Rodwell Chinyengetere.
However, the diminutive midfielder decided against accepting the pardon and instead joined Simba Bhora together with Chinani. And the two have been instrumental in the Northern Region Division One Soccer League’s title aspirants.
Simba Bhora are second on the log with just a single point separating them from leaders Herentals Under-20.
The pair have been outstanding in the league too with Chinani winning the July Breakfront Car Hire and Travel Player of the Month accolade while Chitiyo bagged the Tempo Tyre Distributors Top Goal Scorer award of the same period.
So good has been Chinani in the month under review he conceded just once in the team’s 1-1 draw against Golden Valley last Saturday.
“I am very happy to have my efforts recognised by the league. I thought I would be the month’s best goalkeeper but I am happy the organisers saw it fit for me to bag the best overall players’ accolade.
“It is very rare for a goalkeeper to win that big award. It shows that I am doing something good and I would like to salute my teammates for the effort all of them are putting,” said Chinani.
Chitiyo was equally thrilled and challenged his teammates to put in extra work to ensure the team win the ticket to the top-flight, come the end of the season.
Chitiyo’s three goals in the month of July won him the top goal-scorer’s award.
“I am very happy to have won this award. It really challenges me to keep on working even harder as we march towards our objective of getting promoted,” said Chitiyo.
Simba Bhora dominated the awards with coach Arthur Tutani also walking with the M and J Consultancy Coach of the Month prize.
Commando Bullets new goalkeeper Brian Makoni won the Globaltech Human Capital Corporation Goalkeeper of the Month award after keeping four clean sheets.
In those four games, the former Cranborne Bullets goalie saved one penalty in their goalless draw against leaders Herentals Under-20.
Meanwhile, Eastern Region Division One leaders GreenFuel moved closer to PSL promotion with a 3-0 demolition of FC Wangu Mazodze at the GreenFuel Arena on Saturday.
The Chisumbanje side now need four points from six matches to secure their ticket to the top-tier.
Coach Lloyd Mutasa is an excited lot but knows the job is not yet done.
“We are now closer to what we have been fighting for. We can smell the trophy but believe you me the job is far from being done.
“We will have to fight to secure our place. But so far so good. We are undefeated all season and that’s a good sign,” said Mutasa.
On the other hand, the intriguing Central Region race took another twist at the weekend as TelOne reduced the gap between them and leaders Sheasham to just three points. TelOne walked over Dulibadzimu who failed to pitch up at the venue while Sheasham were held to a goalless draw at Tongogara.
With two games to play, the race is now tighter and Sheasham should be at their best to avoid the 2019 demons that saw them failing to get promoted on the last day of the season. In the Southern Region, Hwange kept their hopes of bouncing back into the league with a 3-1 demolition of Bosso 90 but ZPC and Arenel are also close on their heels after posting crucial wins of their own.
Results
Northern Region
Golden Valley 1-1 Simba Bhora
Herentals U20 2-0 Karoi
Trojan Stars 0-1 Ngezi Platinum
CUMA 0-0 Harare City Cubs
Pam 1-0 Chegutu Pirates
Chinhoyi Stars 1-1 Golden Eagles
Come Again 0-1 Black Mambas
Eastern Region
Masvingo Utd 2-0 Pro Melfort
GreenFuel 3-0 Wangu Mazodze
Lowveld 0-1 Manica Diamonds Jnrs
Grayham 2-0 Ruwa
Renco Mine 3-0 Buffaloes
Surrey 1-0 JM Busha 54
Chiredzi Stars 5-0 Zaka
Mutare City (Bye) 3-0 Nzuma Bar
Southern Region
Bosso90 1-3 Hwange
Zim Saints 1-1 Mosi
Casmyn 2-2 Talen Vision
Binga 2-0 CIWU
Makhandeni 0-1 Arenel
Indlovu Iyanyathela 3-0 Ratanang
Ajax 1-2 Main Line
Mountain Climbers 3-0 Indonsakusa
Central Region
MSU 0-3 FC Platinum U19
Filabusi 0-1 Paramount
TelOne 30 Dulibadzimu
Vumbachikwe 1-0 Loss Control
Chapungu 1-0 ZPC Munyati
Kwekwe Utd 1-0 Bishopstone
Tongogara 0-0 Sheasham
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