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Ellina Mhlanga Sports Reporter
TWALUMBA have themselves to blame after being held to a goalless draw by Dstv Rangers on Saturday in a World Navi Northern Region Division One soccer league encounter at Dzivaresekwa Stadium.
The draw saw both teams dropping on the table, but it is Twalumba who have a lot of homework to do after they failed to convert a host of chances they created in a game they dominated for long periods.
The youthful side were also unlucky, on the occasions they got it right, and after 10 minutes Donald Teguru chipped the ball over Dstv goalkeeper Pedzisai Gumiremhete, who was beaten, but the young forward saw his effort crash against the crossbar.
Fifteen minutes later, Denzel Chimwemwe received a fine pass from Teguru, who had a good day in the office, but failed to beat Gumiremhete, a veteran ’keeper who served with distinction in the Premiership.
Twalumba continued to create a number of good chances, but somehow, couldn’t find the killer touch.
It was a tough weekend for the Top Five teams in the league with only Mushowani Stars, who had struggled in the past few weeks, the top side to win after a 6-0 mauling of hapless Royal Classic.
Twalumba moved three places down the ladder into eighth place and Dstv Rangers, whose two consecutive wins before this game had moved them up to 11th place, dropped two places down.
Wilson Mutekede, the Twalumba coach, hailed his team effort despite their poor show in front of goal saying he would work on his strike-force.
“I think we had quite a good game, particularly in the first half we could have converted six chances or so but we fluffed them all,” said Mutekede.
“We had total control of the first half.
“In the second half we didn’t really got out of the blocks in terms of playing the way we would have wanted to play, we had boys who had injuries who had difficulty in continuing.
“But we are happy with the performance, we have a team that consists of these young boys standing up or even dominating their counterparts who are much older and much senior in the game.
“It’s a good side in terms of development.
“Obviously, we need to work on our finishing, we need to convert a good number of chances that we create.
“It’s good that the team is creating chances but we have to work in terms of making sure we are calm and more composed in front of goal.”
Dstv Rangers assistant coach, Tonderai Marume, said they lacked creativity as they failed to create meaningful scoring opportunities throughout the game.
“In terms of creativity, we slightly lacked that but we had our chances and in the event that we had taken them, maybe, things could have been a little different.
“But it’s a game of football, it’s not all the time that you can convert.
“Obviously, we would have wanted to do better than getting a single point but in football there are obviously three results and one of them is bound to come your way,” said Marume.
In other matches played on Saturday, Karoi United regrouped after their defeat to Flame Lily to dismiss ZRP Morris 2-0. Both their goals came in the second half from Innocent Chiwaridzo and Paddington Butau.
Results: Karoi 2, ZRP Morris 0; Gunners 0, Flame Lilly 0; Royal Classic 0, Mushowani 6; Seven Flames 1, Blue Swallows 2; Twalumba 0, Dstv Rangers 0; Bindura 0, Commando 0; Ngezi Platinum 3, Lake Harvest 0; DC Academy 1, Starbill 0; Black Mambas 2, Chegutu 0.
Online Reporter