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Lovemore Zigara Midlands Correspondent
Whawha 1-0 Dynamos
WHAWHA produced arguably the biggest upset of the season so far after edging defending champions Dynamos in an exciting Castle Lager premiership match played at Ascot Stadium. Roy Useni was the hero of the Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services side as his thunderbolt from 25 metres out, two minutes before the breather, was enough to earn the hosts their second set of maximum points.
Useni’s brace a fortnight ago earned Whawha their first win of the season after dispatching FC Platinum 2–1 at the same venue.
Coming on the back of a six-nil drubbing at the hands of How Mine over the weekend, the stakes were heavily against the hosts as many had expected Dynamos to bounce back to winning ways following a 0–3 mauling at the hands of Chicken Inn.
The Glamour Boys had beaten Whawha three-nil during a pre-season friendly and many expected Dynamos to easily cruise past “Chekera Pasi.”
Whawha technical advisor Lloyd Mutasa was ecstatic following the win and described it as a “sweet” victory.
“My boys did well today to beat the defending champions and this comes as a sweet victory especially coming from a drubbing against How Mine”.
“Playing against Dynamos is always difficult but I’m happy my boys responded well to today’s call,” he said.
Dynamos coach David “Yogi” Mandigora blamed the defeat to a glut of chances his side missed.
Said Yogi: “It’s the same old story as we missed a number of chances and as the match wore on it was difficult to come back.
“It’s always difficult to play here at Ascot and for a team which is not used to losing we need to quickly find the right formula.”
The match started with both sides making their intentions of getting an early goal clear and the two sides got a corner each inside the first three minutes but none managed to utilise the set pieces.
It was “Chazunguza” who came close to scoring in the seventh minute after left back Ocean Mushure whipped in a cross which was missed by inches by Dominic Chungwa.
Mushure was again involved in another Dynamos raid but this time he was the one failing to convert.
Whawha who had all along been failing to find their way to the final third of DeMbare half had their first real chance in the 39th minute when Malvern Nyakabangwe’s scorcher from outside the box was well dealt with by Artwell Mukandi.
Four minutes later Whawha got the breakthrough when Useni picked a loose ball inside the enemy territory following a blind pass by Stephen Alimenda and raced towards goal.
He then unleashed a shot just outside the penalty arch which went into the top left corner leaving Mukandi a mere spectator and had to be content with collecting the ball from his own nets.
The second half started with the visitors probing the visitors’ goal area but the Whawha rearguard stood firm. As the match wore on the hosts were content with sitting at the back although on the rare occasions they surged forward they looked dangerous.
In the 76th minute the referee denied the hosts what appeared to be a genuine penalty call when Nyakabangwe appeared to have been fouled by Sydney Linyama but the referee instead awarded Dynamos a goal kick.
Immediately after, the Glamour Boys launched their own raid and Patrick Khumbula who had come in for Chungwa had his diving header which beat Phillip Nhete being ruled for offside.
Teams
Whawha: P Nhete, B Chidzero, G Kwaramba, M Machazane, J Kanono, L Genti, R Useni (Bude 58 min), C Kapupurika, M Nyakabangwe (A Matewu 82min) G Saunyama, T Jukulile (Nhamo 86 min)
Dynamos: A Mukandi, G Murwira, A Mbara, E Muroyiwa, S Linyama, S Alimenda, M Makopa (Rusere 60 min), R Chitiyo, O Mushure, D Chungwa (Khumbula 56 min), S Nhivi (F Mupasiri 87 min)
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