Hwange feast on Chicken Inn

HWANGE made a meal of Chicken Inn as Chipangano’s resurgence in the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League race continued at the Colliery yesterday.
The glowing coal embers have engulfed Blue Ribbon, CAPS United and Chicken Inn in a row as the miners seek to lift themselves up from a slow start to the campaign.
Chipangano’s feast was preceded by a 35-minute delay after the visitors claimed they had left their kit with their kit manager, who was again reported to have had a breakdown about 100 km from Hwange.
Hwange officials, led by a fuming secretary Burzil Dube would have none of it and claimed the team was now making it a habit to deliberately delay matches.
“This is a clear circus by Chicken Inn, how can a team travel without their jerseys? We will lodge a formal complaint over the matter ” said a disappointed Dube.
Away from the delay Chipangano could have grabbed the lead as early as the third minute after free kick specialist Tonisani Sibelo forced Chicken Inn goalkeeper Liberty Chirava to dive full stretch to punch his curling effort into the path of striker Tongai Magwendere whose effort was accidentally blocked by teammate Munyaradzi Mungadze.
Striker Rodwell Chinyengtere followed up with another screamer but Chirava again proved his mettle by tipping the shot over the bar.
When the visitors launched their first attack Heritani Masuku initiated a move which ended with the tall Tandazani Ndlovu forcing a fine save from agile Hwange goal minder Timothy Sibanda.
Chipangano had all the early pressure, forcing seven corner kicks in the opening 20 minutes but the goal continued to elude the miners.
The tide shifted thereafter as the visitors started to serve up a football delicacy through the industry of Masuku and could have raced into the lead through Guide Goddard but his fiery grounder was scooped off the goal line by Timothy Sibanda before Sibelo hooked the ball to safety.
With Hwange fans silent as Chicken Inn upped temperatures, defender Sizalobuhle Dube banged home from close range in the 34th minute, after he connected an inviting cross from Magwendere who had done all the donkey work on the right flank.
The second half started with the match delicately poised but it was the visitors who asked the first question in the 62nd minute when Timothy Sibanda produced the save of the afternoon when he acrobatically went airborne to tip a Canaan Nkomo volley over the crossbar.
They then camped in the Hwange half but in a similar fashion like in the first half, Hwange got their killer goal against the run of play when midfielder Nkosana Siwela flicked in a lovely cross from Sibelo past a bemused Chirava in 76th minute.