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Tobias Mandoreba, Hwange Correspondent
Hwange ……………………………….. (1) 2
Shabanie Mine ………………………….. 0
HWANGE’S quest to avoid relegation at the end of the season received a major boost as the coalminers put up a brilliant performance to silence Shabanie Mine in a Castle Lager Premier Soccer League match played at the Colliery Stadium yesterday.
The home side was in a business mood from the first whistle and had it not been for a hearty performance by the agile Shabanie goalminder Victor Twaliki, coupled by Hwange’s lack of precision in front of goal, the Zvishavane side would have gone back to their base with an embarrassing rugby scoreline defeat.
In the end however, two lovely goals by Isaac Masame in the 37th minute and Nkosana Siwela in the 56th minute demonstrated that Hwange are determined to avoid relegation.
As early as the third minute Hwange came threatening when lanky defender Munyaradzi Mungadze outjumped the entire Shabanie Mine defence to power a header which missed the target by a whisker.
Shabanie Mine’s response to the early threat by the hosts was a snap shot at goal two minutes later which was gallantly blocked by lanky Hwange defender David Boriwondo.
After that the visitors went into the freezer for the entire opening half.
Some relentless Hwange pressure saw the coalminers being awarded a freekick at the edge of the box in the 10th minute which almost resulted in a goal after impressive Eric Chipeta’s blistering pile driver found Twaliki alert on duty as he bravely parried the effort back into play.
The hosts were not finished as they continued to pile pressure and another chance went begging in the 20th minute when young midfielder Oscar Lungu produced the miss of the afternoon when he came at the end of a delicate cross from Siwela only to miss the target from a few metres out with the Hwange bench already celebrating.
Ten minutes from half time a two-man move involving Masame and Farai Vimbisai ended with the former unleashing a volley which Twaliki punched out for a corner kick.
With Shabanie still to regroup Vimbisai hit the crossbar with another fine effort moments after Twaliki’s save before the visitors ran out of luck in the 37th minute when Masame put his name on the scoresheet with a powerful volley from the edge of the box which flew past a bemused Twaliki sending the drum beating home fans on cloud nine. Whatever dosage was administered by the self-proclaimed “Doctor of Football” Luke Masomere at half time to his lads failed to take effect as his team again started the last half missing in action.
Eleven minutes after the breather the dreadlocked Siwela put the coalminers in the comfort zone when he banged from close range after an overworked Twaliki spilled a venomous shot from Eric Chipeta from some 30 metres out.
The two goals could not even rouse an out-of- sorts Shabanie Mine back to life as Hwange almost increased their tally in the 66th minute but Vimbisai, who had broken loose from two defenders and came face-to-face with Twaliki, miscued his effort which zoomed over the bar with the goalkeeper badly exposed.
The only moments when Shabanie did justice to their long trip from Zvishavane was in the last quarter of the match when Masomere threw in Norman Maroto and Talbot Mtombeni for Phillimon Mudena and Caleb Masocha respectively as the two substitutes combined well to threaten Hwange who however defended for dear life up to impressive Hwange referee Bekezela Makeka’s final whistle. Chenjerai Dube, the Hwange goalkeepers’ coach was all smiles at the end of the game.
“This win is very important as it was a morale booster in the next games as the relegation fight continues. The loss in the last game against Harare City saw us going back to the drawing board to rectify the mistakes and I am happy that we worked on the right areas to get good results today,” he said on behalf of the head coach Nation Dube who was all smiles but as usual, voiceless.
Masomere admitted his team was not up to the task under the scorching Hwange heat. “We did not play as a team and in football you should know that you can lose a game. The absence of key players affected the rhythm but we will pick ourselves up as we aim to finish at a respectable position on the log.” he said.
Teams
Hwange: T Mawaya, E Chipeta (C Muleya 88th minute), M Mungadze, G Ndlovu, D Boriwondo, A Tshuma, I Masame (E Rusike 80th minute), O Lungu, N Siwela, G Zulu, F Vimbisai (T Chese 74th minute)
Shabanie Mine: V Twaliki, P Sithole, W Ngonya, B Mbavarira, S Muchabaiwa, T Mombeshora, F Bushiri, P Mudena (N Maroto 53rd minute), F Chirinda (S Ndlovu 76th minute), C Masocha (T Mtombeni 72nd minute), T Rukanda.
Online Reporter