adminTobias Mandoreba in HWANGE
Hwange . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (0) 1
How Mine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (2) 2
HWANGE fans watched in shock and disbelief as their team’s faint chances of lifting the Castle Lager Premier league title wilted under the blazing temperatures after falling to a determined How Mine at the Colliery Stadium yesterday. At the end of an afternoon, when the hosts virtually slept on duty, especially in the opening half, it was the self-proclaimed “Doctor of Football” Luke Masomere who travelled back to his base with three big points.
With Hwange virtually missing in action, it was no surprise as the gold miners opened the scoring in the 21st minute through goal poacher Kuda Musharu who received a sitter from Caleb Masocha and outpaced the static home defenders before banging home past an advancing and exposed Takabva Mawaya.
More misery was in store for Hwange head coach Nation Dube as the visitors doubled their advantage five minutes later after Heritani Masuku’s sizzling effort at the edge of the Hwange box took an awkward deflection off Andrew Tshuma before rolling into the back of the nets.
Hwange’s only sight at goal in the entire opening stanza was when left back Munyaradzi Mungadze’s curling free kick whistled past the left upright by a few inches on the half hour mark with impressive goalkeeper Bernard Donovan diving in vain.
Five minutes from the breather Mawaya dived full stretch to smother a blistering Menard Mupera free-kick only for Masocha to miscue the rebound with a yawning net at his mercy.
The introduction of veteran striker Gilbert Zulu for the out-of-sorts Alec Marime in the 47th minute changed the complexion of Hwange’s attack.
Hwange’s pressure finally paid off in the 80th minute when substitute Zulu rose high to connect a curling Farai Vimisai delivery from a corner kick to give Chipangano a glimmer of hope.
Masomere then congested his midfield and closed shop to secure an important victory.
Dube blasted his boys.
“The boys’ mindset was wrong, especially if you saw how they played in the opening half. In the second half they tried to wake up but the damage was already done by those two silly goals we conceded.
“I challenged the boys to fight for an extra bonus of playing in the Mbada Cup at the end of the season and it is still up to them to fight for that feat by bouncing back,” said Dube. Masomere was all smiles after the match.
“The three points makes me very happy as they have come at the right time in the season. Mathematically we are now alright, we now wait for next season but that will not stop us from chasing more points to go up the ladder. “I have coached almost all teams in Zimbabwe hence beating my former team Hwange is not special in any way because that is the nature of our job, to get results,” he said
Online Reporter