dyton mupawaenda
Bruce Chikuni
HERENTALS Queens survived a late scare to book their place in the Heart Cup semi-finals which will take place today at the Heart Stadium.
Chapungu, Black Mambas and Harare City are the other teams which secured their slots.
Six goals were recorded in the quarter-final stage of the Heart Cup, which showed an improvement of quality and competitiveness.
Twenty five goals were registered in the first round of the tournament.
Chapungu started the party with a 2-1 win over sister club Black Rhinos.
It was the best match of the tournament by a considerable distance as it resembled a final match and fans in attendance were left asking for more.
Herentals Queens equalised at the death to force a 1-1 draw against Correctional Queens.
Alice Moyo’s late strike was all Herentals needed to deflate Correctional Queens, who were just seconds from causing the first upset of the tournament.
The match went straight to the penalties.
Herentals had the momentum and Correctional Queens were praying for a repeat of what happened on Wednesday, when they knocked out Highlanders through the lottery.
But, it was not to be as they stumbled to a 3-4 defeat in the lottery.
Moyo, who also converted from the spot, hailed her colleagues’ fighting spirit.
“It’s a game in which we showed character, everyone kept going even when all hope was lost.
“We owed this win to our technical team for encouraging us to press on. Our fans also played a key role in helping us to progress to the next round of the competition.
“This result has now inspired us to do better to book our ticket in the final and we are going to try our best to please our fans and Professor Innocent Benza (the owner of the club),” said Moyo.
Harare City ended Platinum Royals’ adventure in the Heart Cup with a 1-0 win.
Results
Herentals 1-1 Correctional Queens (4-2 penalties); Chapungu 2-1 Black Rhinos: Maningi Academy 0-0 Black Mambas (4-3 penalties): Harare City 1-0 Platinum Royals
Bongani Ndlovu
Mathew Masinge