Online Reporter
Tobias Mandoreba, Hwange Correspondent
Hwange 1-1 Bulawayo Chiefs
A late penalty shrouded in controversy robbed Hwange of what felt like a certain vic-tory, as Bulawayo Chiefs escaped the Colliery with a point.
The result left the home side’s technical team, players and fans seething.
With five minutes left, referee Donacious Munenge pointed to the spot after substitute Arthur Musiyiwa tumbled in the box under what appeared a fair challenge. Musiyiwa went down dramatically, and the decision left the entire stadium stunned.
Panashe Shoko calmly converted, beating Peter Mushure to silence the home fans who had already started celebrating a morale boosting win. From then on, Chiefs defended desperately to ensure Hwange remained five points behind them with 12 games still to play.
The result proved doubly painful for Hwange, as it allowed Nkayi United to climb to the top after their 5-2 win over Bosso 90. Nkayi now sit on 50 points, two clear of Chiefs and five ahead of Hwange, who slipped into third.
For Hwange, the referee’s call should never have mattered. The coalminers created chance after chance and somehow contrived to squander them all.
The main culprit was striker Toto Banda, who despite finally finding the net in the 64th minute, should have walked off with at least a hat-trick. His catalogue of misses began in the fifth minute when he skied a sitter.
Three minutes later, he miscued again, and by the half-hour mark he had fluffed three more clear chances.
Keith Murera and the imposing Cleopas Dube also went close before Banda finally broke through with a sublime finish at the end of a sweeping counter attack. Hwange fans erupted, sensing the win that would breathe new life into their title push.
But as the minutes ticked away, the mood shifted from joy to disbelief when Munenge’s decision handed Chiefs a lifeline. “That was never a penalty,” one irate Hwange fan fumed as the final whistle blew, the sense of injustice hanging over the Colliery like a cloud of coal dust.
The 1-1 result came just days after Hwange dropped two points against Nust in another match where they created but failed to finish a stack of chances.
Meanwhile, at Luveve, Nkayi United ran riot in their 5-2 win over Bosso 90. Tino Chitete struck twice, with James Chivasa, Karel Java and Ronald Kaunda also on the scoresheet. Bosso 90 replied through Malcolm Daka and a Romeo Zimba penalty.
