Hwange hold Caps

Eddie Chikamhi, Harare Bureau

ECCENTRIC Hwange goalkeeper Nedrick Madeya was yesterday ordered by the referee to remove his controversial towel from his goal before the start of their Castle Lager Premier Soccer League match against Caps United at the National Sports Stadium.

But the Harare giants still struggled to find the back of the nets despite a glut of chances towards the end of a dull match that was blemished by several stoppages and time-wasting antics by the visitors.

The referee Arnold Ncube added six minutes but Makepekepe still came out of the game shaking their heads in disbelief after hitting the woodwork twice and coming close several times.

Obviously, this had nothing to do with the chilling discovery at the end of the game of what appeared to be blood stains splashed on Hwange’s goal, where Madeya was stationed for the second-half.

Caps United chief marksman William Manondo twice could not breach Madeya’s goal with close range headers, while Ian Nyoni and Rodwell Chinyengetere also missed from good positions.

Impressive wingback Terrence Daka and second-half substitute Adrian Silla hit the post on separate occasions as Makepekepe pushed for a winner late on.

The Green Machine coach Lloyd Chitembwe was still impressed by his charges, despite missing the opportunity to collect maximum points at home.

“I’m very happy with my team’s performance, I don’t want to take anything away from my team’s performance,” he said in the post-match interview.

“Maybe it was just a case of small team mentality. When you play such teams that will not be expecting much, that’s what you will see and the moments that you try hard to create opportunities they will continue to play that way.

“But the performance was good, for me I do not particularise the team, we attack and defend together, for us to score it takes the whole team to defend is the same.

“So if we didn’t score it’s the whole team’s fault but overall I’m happy with the progress we have made so far as a team, I think there is a lot to come from this team,” said Chitembwe.

But Makepekepe were frustrated the whole 90 minutes by a Hwange side that had come into the game with a negative game plan, to slow down the game as much as possible.

The Hwange players would go down at every turn, prompting the referee to stop play and when the ball went out, they would take ages to take the throw.

Hwange were even happy to sit back in their own half and it appeared the point on the road against the Harare giants was a good result for them.

“A draw against Caps United is a very positive result for us,” said Hwange coach Nation Dube.

“I think our game plan worked very well because I told the boys that when we go into the pitch, both teams will be on one point and if we do not score, let’s not allow them to also score.

“Remember we are coming from two defeats.

We couldn’t afford to go back home with another defeat and I think our strategy worked very well because we also managed to restrict them from making those runs and crosses from their wings and we were happy with a point,” said Dube.

He also defended his team’s delaying antics saying it might have been fatigue due to the distance travelled by his team.

“I think fatigue was crippling in for our players because Hwange is too far and our players were tired that’s why they couldn’t continue with the same intensity

“But we are happy that we are now playing our home games at Hwange. We will now have time to rest,” said Dube.