daniel chigunwe
Bruce Chikuni
HERENTALS forward, Tafadzwa Jim, finally found the target having started a Castle Lager Premiership match as his side laboured to a 2-1 victory over Ngezi Platinum Stars at Mandava on Saturday.
His glancing header early in the game gave Herentals the lead and took his tally to five goals this season.
More significantly, it ended a 15-game drought having last netted in their 2-1 win against ZPC Kariba at the National Sports Stadium.
Jim was also on target as Herentals and Ngezi Platinum drew 3-3 in the reverse fixture at the Baobab Stadium.
Tino Benza’s brilliantly struck free-kick which gave Nelson Chadya no chance was enough to drown the title chasing Ngezi Platinum just moments after the restart.
Victory stretched Herentals’ unbeaten run to six games and they have registered four wins during this period.
Jim had failed to score when part of the starting XI and the 19-year-old ended the unwanted record on Saturday.
Jim said he was excited to finally end his lengthy goal drought.
“It was a big win for us and it just feels good to start scoring especially after such a long run. “The team is very motivated to play anytime and I would also prefer to face all the big club in our next games while we are still in this great form.
“I was also begging to be worried with why I was failing to score every time I’m in the starting line-up, but I also want to thank my coach and teammates who kept encouraging me,” said Jim.
Mutiwekuziva hailed his troop for coming to the part. “I’m very impressed with what I saw from the boys, Ngezi are a tactical side and they are really good in all the departments.
“It was never going to be easy for us but the boys fought a good fight in both ends for us to down one of the title favourites.
“They showed character and I’m hoping that they will continue with this form in our coming assignments. We need to collect as many points as we can.
“Our game plan really worked for us because we knew that Ngezi were going go try to keep the ball, so our mission was just to hit them with counter attacks using our speedy wingers to that effect.
They really struggled in containing them and that is what we did right to win the match,” said Mutiwekuziva.
Online Reporter