Online Reporter
Onward Gangata
TelOne 1-1 ZPC Kariba
AS he has done on numerous occasions this season, Washington Navaya was the saviour for TelOne, scoring a last minute equaliser to rescue a point at Ascot Stadium yesterday.
ZPC Kariba had taken the lead in this Castle Lager Premier Soccer League match and looked set to collect maximum points.
It ended 1-1.
The WiFi boys were staring at what would have been a second straight home defeat deep in added time before Navaya scored to earn the hosts a valuable point.
He intelligently shrugged off his marker to nod home substitute, Nqosiyabo Masilela’s delightful cross, cancelling out Stanley Ngala’s 64th minute goal for the visitors. It was Navaya’s 10th goal of the season.
The point gained, put TelOne’s points tally at 25 and they remain fourth on the log standings.
And after the match, TelOne coach, Hebert Maruwa felt it was a point gained as he knew that ZPC Kariba would be a difficult opponent.
“I have been preaching this to the boys throughout the week that, ZPC Kariba would be a tough one, they were coming from a heavy defeat so obviously, would want to recover quickly.
“They defended in blocks and wanted to hit us on the counter but I am happy we fought as a team, it is a point gained,” said Maruwa.
Meanwhile, Oscar Rusenga writes from Chisumbanje that last year’s top goalscorers and former Highlanders forward Lynoth Chikuhwa’s long, painful wait finally ended as he scored to make it 2-1 for Scottland.
It was his first goal of the year.
It took 16 matches, nearly half the season, for last year’s Castle Lager Premier Soccer League Golden Boot winner to find the back of the net in Scottland colours. And when Chikuhwa rifled home early in the second-half to put his side 2-1 up against GreenFuel, it felt like a corner had been turned, for both the striker and his team.
But football is cruel.
Just when Scottland thought they had escaped with all three points, Chris Ngwende stepped up, cool as you like, and buried an 84th-minute penalty to complete his brace and snatch a 2-2 draw for Greenfuel in a midweek cracker at the GreenFuel Arena.
A calamitous back pass from Godknows Murwira left goalkeeper Nelson Chadya stranded and desperate. In a split second of chaos, he brought down substitute Simbarashe Manyoni in the box. Referee Lawrence Zimondi didn’t flinch, spot-kick.
Ngwende, unfazed by the pressure and Chadya’s attempts to psych him out, sent the keeper the wrong way to rescue GreenFuel from what would have been a second straight home defeat, after their weekend loss to TelOne.
Before the late drama, the match had sizzled with end-to-end intensity. GreenFuel got the jump, punishing Scottland’s frailty down the left early. Reginald Chinemo ran rings around Ronald Pfumbidzai in the sixth minute before cutting back for Ngwende, who made no mistake from close range.
But the visitors hit back through Panashe Mutimbanyoka in the 15th minute, ghosting in to convert Pfumbidzai’s dangerous delivery.
GreenFuel could have gone into the break ahead, with Ngwende skying a chance after a slick move involving Collins Dhuwa, but the big moment came nine minutes into the second-half, and it belonged to Chikuhwa.
Once Highlanders’ chief predator and a 17-goal hero in 2024, Chikuhwa’s move to Scottland had quickly soured into a dry spell. But in the 54th minute, he pounced, spinning off his marker and burying a shot past Victor Machopa to make it 2-1.
It was raw emotion. A scream to the heavens. A burden lifted.
For Scottland, it’s a painful reminder of how small moments decide big matches. For Chikuhwa, it’s a long overdue breakthrough. For Greenfuel, a point that could spark a revival.
But for the fans? It was pure theatre.
