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Sikhumbuzo Moyo Senior Sports Reporter
A MOMENT of madness and a substitution that went horribly wrong saw an execution of three goals in a six-minute blitzkrieg of attacking football by visiting Dynamos against a determined home side Bantu Rovers in a Castle Lager Premier Soccer League match played at Barbourfields Stadium yesterday.
Leading 1-0, home side goalkeeper Brighton Chipula demoralised his teammates when he conceded a silly corner kick in an effort to toy around with the ball from a speculative but harmless shot from Stephen Alimenda. From the resultant corner kick, DeMbare pounced and all hell broke loose.
The introduction of Obadiah Tarumbwa for hard running Sizalobuhle Dube just before the resumption of the second half and Moses Majika also saw Dynamos starting to take the game to their opponents and with an out of sorts Partson Jaure suddenly rediscovering his game.
With DeMbare down 1-0 through a 13th minute Nqobizitha Masuku low volley, Alimenda released a clearly harmless speculative shot from just outside the centre circle which found Chipula naturally alone.
The former Triangle goalkeeper chested it twice instead of a clean catch but somehow, with the Bantu Rover defenders already opening up to receive his clearance, the ball went over the line for a corner kick.
The resultant corner kick saw the tall Sydney Linyama rising high to beautifully nod the ball into the nets. Mpilo End, that houses Dynamos fans, erupted.
From there onwards the Bantu Rover players, who had Emmanuel Dube, Zephania Ngodzo youngsters Tafadzwa Kutinyu and Bukhosi Sibanda playing well, suddenly became a pale shadow and once you do that against Dynamos, calamity usually follows and it did.
A minute-and-a-half later, Jaure, who now was finding acres of space with overlapping runs from the right back position, won possession deep in his own half on the Mpilo end, shrugged off his marker before charging forward.
As he crossed the centre line, he passed to Washington Pakamisa, who had a miserable afternoon but on the occasion, the stocky forward was not shy at using his brains. He released an onrushing Tafadwa Rusike who covered every blade of grass yesterday. Rusike body-swerved a Bantu Rovers defender before side-footing the ball into the nets.
Four minutes later another quick counterattack by Dynamos saw Devon Chafa making a solo runafter getting the better of Ngodzo before adding his first and the team’s third.
It was a forgettable six minutes of torcher for Bantu Rovers who had spiritedly fought another wave of attack in the first 10 minutes of the match before taking a well deserved lead in the 13th minute.
A disappointed Bantu Rovers head coach Methembe Ndlovu refused to blame his goalkeeper for the defeat, saying they lose and win as a team.
Chipula had a nightmare debut at Barbourfields Stadium last season in Triangle colours when his delaying antics saw a battling Bosso finally getting maximum points following 16 minutes of added time.
“We are obviously disappointed that we lost because we had prepared well for this match. Our young guys really gave it their best and I believe if he had kept a clean sheet for about 20 minutes in the second half things would have been different,” said Ndlovu whose team was clearly the better side for most of the time, just like How Mine when they played Dynamos.
DeMbare coach Callisto Pasuwa was a relieved man after getting maximum points, their second in Bulawayo in as many visits.
“They were better than us in the first half as we were always second to the ball but in the second half I think we put up a better show,” said Pasuwa.
Teams:
Bantu Rovers: Chipula, Z Ngodzo, E Tshuma, N Masuku, L Nkomo, T Kutinyu, E Dube, B Sibanda (M Majika 53rd min), P Zireni, F Ncube, S Dube ( O Tarumbwa 46th min). Unused subs: N Mlalazi, M Tshuma, O Gombami, T Hadebe, B Sikwila
Dynamos: A Mukandi, P Jaure, T Ndlovu, S Linyama, A Mbara, S Alimenda D Chfa, O Machapa (C Sekete 28th min), T Rusike (S Sithole 87th min), W Pakamisa (F Mupasiri 86th min), A Gondo. Unused Subs: R Madamombe, V Kamhuka, T Magorimbo, T Mukuruva.
Online Reporter