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Tobias Mandoreba in Hwange
Hwange . . . . . . . . . . . (0) 2
How Mine . . . . . . . . . . . 0
A STRONG and purposeful second half display saw Hwange silencing a determined How Mine in the battle of miners in this lively Castle Lager Premiership soccer match at the Colliery yesterday. The coalminers needed to win at all costs to move away from the murky waters of relegation and head coach Nation Dube must have read the riot act to his players during the breather as his charges came back from the dressing room super charged.
A flashing header by lanky defender David Boriwondo in the 62nd minute after a corner by Farai Vimisai set the tone for some wild celebrations by the home fans with a clever chip over the goalkeeper by substitute Newman Sianchali 10 minutes from time serving as the final nail in How Mine’s coffin.
Sianchali had benefited from a beautiful through pass by midfield kingpin Rodwell Chinyengetere before punishing goalkeeper Donovan Bernard for leaving his line too early.
The match had started on a very slow pace with both teams looking jaded in the opening half mark where there was a single shot on target from the visitors after Thembani Masuku’s left-footed grounder missed the target by a few inches in the 13th minute.
The coalminers only started to spring to life in the last quarter of the opening half as they roused the fans from their deep slumber in the terraces with some delightful football and could have raced into the lead in the 30th minute when brilliant midfielder Innocent Mucheneka released Zimbabwe national Under-23 winger Pritchard Mpelele who disappointed with a hurried effort which went off target from close range.
Mucheneka then turned from provider to being a culprit hardly two minutes when he produced the miss of the afternoon from inside the box after he latched on to a sitter by Mpelele only for him to surprisingly blaze the ball over the bar with a yawning net in front of him.
Another attack by Hwange five minutes from half-time which was orchestrated by overlapping left-back Munyaradzi Mungadze ended with striker Alec Marime’s clever bicycle kick being smothered by an alert Bernard.
How Mine had just missed a glorious opportunity on the hour mark after defender Morris Kadzola miscued his effort from close range when Hwange raced into the lead through Boriwondo who rose high to connect Vimisai’s corner
To their credit How Mine started to launch dangerous raids into the coalminers’ half after the goal with pint-sized Timothy January full of running and spraying around some neat passes but all their hopes of a come-back fizzled into thin air after the home side’s second goal which left them deflated.
Luke Masomere, the self- proclaimed “Doctor of Football” then surprisingly administered some wrong dosages on his substitution by pulling off live-wire January for Heritani Masuku eight minutes from time which resulted in How Mine’s attacking threat vanishing up to the final whistle.
Yesterday’s win was sweet revenge as the visitors edged Hwange 2-1 in the reverse fixture.
Hwange goalkeepers’ coach Chenjerai Dube was all smiles after the game.
“The win is sweet for us after it was difficult for us to play a normal game in the opening half but we managed to open up the visitors in the last half. We hope to carry on from here in our next game against FC Platinum,” he said.
Masomere conceded defeat after the game.
“We played well but let in cheap goals but such is football. I also would like to praise the referee Mlindeli Ndebele and his colleagues for a good game.”
Online Reporter