Chronicle Editor
Raymond Jaravaza, Sports Correspondent
VISITING Binga Pirates are finding life tough in the Zifa Southern Region Division One League after they went down 1-2 to CIWU in a match played at Crescent Ground in Bulawayo on Saturday.
League debutantes Binga Pirates have so far picked a single point from a possible nine with two defeats and a draw to date. Despite the win, CIWU coach Kudzie Mhandire watched the greater part of the match sitting among the home supporters after he was expelled from the technical bench for ‘using foul language’ on the referee 30 minutes into the game.
“I asked the referee why he didn’t book a Binga Pirates defender for fouling my player and I was surprised when the match official expelled me from the technical bench.
“We won the match, but today was one of the worst games that we have ever played.
“The performance was just pathetic, but in football sometimes collecting maximum points is all that matters,” said Mhandire after the match.
Binga Pirates drew first blood as early as the 14th minute when an unmarked McDonald Fulau squeezed a shot past the CIWU goalkeeper.
The visitors’ celebrations of an early lead were, however, short lived when one of their own Mpumelelo Ndimande was shown a red card in the 38th minute for a crude tackle.
Five minutes before the break, the hosts breathed life back into the game with an equaliser from the spot kick by Muziwakhe Dlamini. For all the hard work by the resilient 10-men Binga Pirates to try and force a draw, CIWU would have none of it when Tambudzai Ngulube grabbed a late winner four minutes before regulation time to seal maximum points for his team.
“It’s still early days for us; almost all these boys have never played Division One football before so they are still overwhelmed playing in places such as Bulawayo.
“The pressure is on me to try and show them how things should be done, but I can’t say that I’m disappointed with how we have played our first three games,” said Binga Pirates coach Witness Munkuli.
Munkuli is a former Caps United and Hwange FC goalkeeper. — @RaymondJaravaza
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