adminHow Mine join Central Region champions Tripple B, Black Rhinos of the Northern Region and Eastern Region winners Triangle who made it to the top flight with a number of games left before their seasons ended.
Samuel Julius, the How Mine secretary-general was elated with their achievement and said they were still celebrating their championship win.
The gold miners pipped former Premiership side Bantu Rovers to the title as Tshintsha Guluva who went to the weekend’s games at the top of the log with 63 points, one ahead of How Mine, succumbed to a shock 0-1 loss to Rufaro Rovers.
ZPC Hwange also fell by the wayside despite beating Projects FC 10-0 in a coalmining town derby. They ended the season on 64 points, one behind How Mine.
“This was a great weekend for us and we are happy that in our group we are the first mine to go to the Premiership. We fought to the last minute and Black Boots were a hard nut to crack but we were patient. Overall, it was a competitive season and right now we are just celebrating this feat before engaging the company’s management on the way forward.
“We declared at the beginning of the year that we wanted Premiership football and we are happy that we have walked the talk. We will only take a short Christmas break and return early to plan for the season,” said Julius.
He spoke highly about his players’ commitment saying they were hungry for success.
Some of the players who were key in How Mine’s campaign include their skipper Steven ‘Dila’ Sibanda, Stephen Phiri and Success Sibanda.
How Mine belong to the Mettallon Gold group and some of their mines include Mazowe, Shamva, Arcturus and Redwing. On beefing up the squad, Julius said they would act on their coaches Jeremiah Makota and Sheunesu Chaka’s recommendations.
“The technical issues depend on the coaches and I am sure there are areas where they feel we have to beef up but we will be keeping most of our players who guided us to the Premiership,” said Julius.
Bantu Rovers’ defeat condemned one of the country’s oldest clubs, Zimbabwe Saints, to relegation.
Chikwata ended the season on position 13 with 37 points, one behind Rufaro Rovers who stung Bantu Rovers to survive the chop on the last day of the season.
Zimbabwe Saints were relegated alongside Power Cosmos of Hwange, Sizani Fruits and Veg, Emakhandeni Pirates and Projects FC.
Brian Moyo, the Zifa Southern Region secretary was happy with their flawless league and said it was more competitive than most.
“I would like to believe that we had the best season in that we had three clubs (How Mine, Bantu Rovers and ZPC Hwange) all taking the championship race to the wire. The championship was decided in the last three minutes which shows the level of competition in our league.
“Rufaro Rovers rose to the party and How Mine were made to sweat which I believe shows that we have competitive teams in our league,” Moyo said.
Results
Saturday: Tsholotsho Pirates 3, Emakhandeni Pirates 0; Projects FC 0, ZPC Hwange 10; Hwange Juniors 5, Railstars 0; Black Boots 0, How Mine 1; New West 2, Sizani Fruits and Veg 0; Ntabazinduna Prison 0, Bulawayo Chiefs 1; Mpumalanga 1, Power Cosmos 0
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