adminsoccer tie in which the stakes were heavily tipped against them at the Colliery yesterday.
Hwange had to fight a grueling battle with one man short following the expulsion of defender Munyaradzi Mungadze after only 23 minutes.
Furthermore, they were a goal down as early as the 7th minute.
Despite these setbacks, the coalminers fought bravely with their captain Rodwell Chinyengetere scoring the equaliser in the 44th minute.
The physically imposing Sudanese side El Amal Atbara raced to a 7th-minute lead courtesy of their central striker Adam Mahbob who tapped in a seemingly harmless cross.
The Hwange defenders, with Mungadze the chief culprit, were found napping, allowing the striker to squeeze the ball past Petros Mhari, the Hwange goalminder.
Mungadze had a bad day in the office, getting a yellow card for bringing down an El Amal Atbara striker as early as the 6th minute.
And a deliberate handball in the 24th minute resulted in Malawian referee Raphael Antony sending the lanky defender for an early shower.
To many in attendance, the expulsion of Mungadze clearly spelt doom for the home team and to many, the hosts were on their way to a heavy defeat.
But Hwange fought bravely despite playing with one man down and forced a draw in this match in which referee Antony made a number of questionable decisions and at times allowed the visiting team to deliberately delay play and feign injuries.
Chinyengetere restored parity after connecting an Ocean Mpofu corner, sending the Colliery into delirium.
The second half belonged to the home team as they piled on the pressure but the goals just did not come.
The visitors were by then clearly panicking and were resorting to long, aimless balls that were hurriedly pumped up-front. Nation Dube, the Hwange head coach, bemoaned the expulsion of Mungadze, saying that it was the turning point in this match.
“The expulsion forced us to make substitutions that were not tactical. It disturbed the flow of the match. I am hopeful that we are going to turn the tables in the return match in Sudan,” Dube said.
Mahmoud Izzeldeen , the El Amal Atbara coach was a happy man after the match.
“This is a satisfactory result. When we came here we did not know the type of play of our opponents but now we now how they play,” the Egyptian coach said.
Online Reporter