Southern Region Div 1 in roaring start

Ricky Zililo Senior Sports Reporter
THE Southern Region Soccer League roared into life during the Easter Holiday with Bulawayo Chiefs, newly promoted Bulawayo City and Ntabazinduna registering emphatic wins.

The three clubs beat their opponents with identical 3-0 score lines.

It might be early days but they have made themselves teams to beat.

Former champions Bulawayo Chiefs’ 2015 signing Ishmael Wadi got his career at the ambitious club to a positive start, hitting a brace against Casmyn.

Chiefs, who sold their Premiership franchise to Bantu Rovers at the beginning of the 2014 season, had their hitman Kundishora Chakanyuka also registering his name on the score card.

However, it is Wadi who they snatched right under the nose of Black Mambas who ensured that Bulawayo Chiefs had a good kickoff to their 2015 season.

Coach Thulani Sibanda, who spent the better part of last season at Black Mambas, was not content with the victory.

“Ours is work in progress, more of a fusion of youngsters and a few experienced players. What we’re doing is building a team that will effectively compete for a Premiership slot next season and winning the first game is obviously a morale booster for the youngsters,” said Sibanda.

“However, we’re bracing up for a tough season because all the teams have really done well to beef up their squads and create a competitive league. The few experienced guys will be handy in guiding the youngsters.”

Pre-season favourites — Bulawayo City — made their title intentions clear, sending Bekithemba “Super” Ndlovu’s Indlovu Iyanyathela packing with strikes from Xolisani Moyo, Joseph Mathambo and Warren Dube.

Moyo and Dube are some of a number of experienced players that featured for Bulawayo City in their maiden championship match.

Despite a convincing victory, Bulawayo City coach Philani “Beefy” Ncube remained modest and said: “We’re just fighting for survival. We want to collect as many points as we can so that we aren’t caught in the relegation storm.”

Perennial championship campaigners Ntabazinduna beat Nust with their coach Agent “Ajila” Sawu happy that his strikers were on target.

James Chivasa hit a brace for the correctional services side while Nkosilathi Ncube scored the other goal.

“It’s important to start the season on a positive footing. What we’ve to do now is to take each game as it comes,” Sawu said.

It wasn’t a pleasant return to the first division for Bantu Rovers who lost 0-1 at home to ZPC Hwange.

Having spent last season in the Premiership, expectations were high that Bantu Rovers will be counted among title contenders. It remains to be seen whether they will be able to recover from their false start. ZPC Hwange got their goal from Azela Kabwe. Every season the electricity generators tend to start their campaigns strongly but collapse in the second half.

Meanwhile, heavy rains in Matabeleland North led to cancellation of four matches — Amagagasi v Trumus, Old Nic Mine v Hwange Juniors, Mpumalanga v Black Boots and Technosphere v Makomo.

The Zifa Southern Region has since rescheduled the Victoria Falls derby involving Amagagasi and Trumus to this afternoon at Chinotimba.

In Hwange, Technosphere face newcomers Makomo at Lwendulu today.

Old Nic Mine-Hwange Juniors and the Mpumalanga-Black Boots matches will be played at a later date.

Results

Saturday: Bulawayo City 3-0 Indlovu Iyanyathela; Bantu Rovers 0-1 ZPC Hwange; Amagagasi v Trumus (Not Played); Ntabazinduna 3-0 Nust; Old Nic Mine v Hwange Juniors (Not Played), Mpumalanga v Black Boots (not Played), Technosphere v Makomo (not Played).

Sunday: Bulawayo Chiefs 3-0 Casmyn.

Table

P W D L F A GD Pts

Bulawayo Chiefs 1 1 0 0 3 0 3 3

Bulawayo City 1 1 0 0 3 0 3 3

Ntabazinduna 1 1 0 0 3 0 3 3

ZPC Hwange 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 3

Amagagasi 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Black Boots 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Hwange Juniors 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Makomo 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Mpumalanga 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0