Online Reporter
Tongai Mashonga
Zimpapers Sports Hub
CHAHWANDA stadium will be rocking this Sunday.
Hardrock, the new gold rush in Kwekwe, face their toughest test yet when unbeaten Ngezi Platinum Stars roll into town for a Castle Lager Premier Soccer League clash that could shake up the top of the table.
It is a game between second and fourth-placed teams but whose outcome could result in a swapping of positions at the top.
Hardrock have made their home turf a difficult place to come.
Three straight wins, 16 points from seven games, level with CAPS United at the top. Last week’s 1-0 grind over Agama showed they can win even when it’s not pretty.
But 2023 champions Ngezi don’t scare easily.
They sit on 15 points, unbeaten in seven, and doing it without the comfort they once had. January hit them hard. Coach gone. Key players gone. Transfer ban hanging over them.
Still, they keep going. Kumbirai Mutiwekuziwa has kept them organised, disciplined, and hard to break.
Eight goals scored. Just four conceded in seven matches. They don’t give much away.
They’ve already beaten CAPS United, the same side that beat Hardrock at Rufaro. Quietly, they’ve stayed in the race.
This will be their first meeting, but Ngezi are no strangers to this route.
For years their buses passed through Kwekwe on the way to other matches, picking up supporters along the road. Some of those fans will be in the stands on Sunday, and this time they have to choose.
The bus won’t pass through now. It stops at Chahwanda.
January told two different stories.
Hardrock strengthened. They brought in Junior Makunike, Donald Mudadi, Martin Mapisa, Misheck Ngwenya and Nigel Matinha, plus foreign additions, to add depth and experience.
It’s showing. They attack with confidence and still find a way when the game gets tight.
Ngezi were stripped.
Takesure Chiragwi left, and so did a string of key players, most of them ending up at CAPS United.
With the transfer restrictions in place, Mutiwekuziwa had to look within. He trusted the youngsters, mixed them with the senior players who remained, and built a side that refuses to go away.
Now they arrive in Kwekwe still standing.
Washington Navaya is finding his rhythm again, two goals in his last four games. Andrew Phiri is back from injury and looking to get going.
Hardrock will look to Wilfred Madzungu for creativity, with Last Nyilenda carrying the goal threat. Tinashe Mashaireni and Munashe Bamara keep things ticking. At the back, captain Munyaradzi Diro Nyenye leads a defence that has already kept four clean sheets.
It’s tight between these two.
Hardrock beat Triangle United away. Ngezi drew with them. Ngezi beat CAPS. CAPS beat Hardrock. There’s nothing clear about this one.
“Ngezi is still unbeaten, it’s a difficult game but we’ve got a little bit of depth, we have enough players who have been rested,” said Hardrock coach Kelvin Kaindu.
Ngezi don’t come with noise. They just stay in games.
They beat FC Platinum at the start of the season. They have already stood up to champions Scottland. Seven matches without defeat is no coincidence.
Chahwanda is expected to be full.
Hardrock want to show this run is real. Ngezi want to show they are still in it, no matter what they lost.
