Online Reporter
Veronica Gwaze in Mhondoro, Ngezi
Ngezi Platinum Stars 4-2 Bulawayo Chiefs
NGEZI Platinum Stars keep finding ways to silence doubts. Yesterday they did it with four goals, ruthless wing play and another reminder that this title race may have to keep making room for them.
Coming into the season under a Fifa transfer ban, after losing several players, few would have looked at this squad and seen a side still unbeaten after 14 matches. Yet the Mhondoro miners continue to refuse the script.
Their 4-2 victory over Bulawayo Chiefs kept them among the frontrunners and extended a run that is beginning to look less like a surprise and more like a serious statement.
Head coach Kumbirai Mutiwekuziwa admitted even he did not see this coming.
“I never imagined us at this position at this stage. It is quite a miracle, I must say,” he said.
Ngezi arrived carrying a different kind of pressure after three matches without a win, but they did not play like a team carrying baggage. They came out quickly and should have scored twice inside the opening three minutes, only for wasteful finishing to spare Chiefs.
The warning signs were there and Chiefs ignored them.
In the fifth minute Tanaka Munemo whipped in a dangerous ball and Orlando Zvavaviri made no mistake, burying it to give the hosts the lead.
Ngezi’s game plan was obvious. They wanted the wings and they wanted speed. Munemo and Zvavaviri repeatedly stretched Chiefs and dragged defenders into uncomfortable areas, opening spaces that Ngezi kept attacking.
Chiefs looked flat and almost paid for another mistake when Ngezi goalkeeper Darlington Murasiranwa wandered out to deal with danger. The ball broke kindly for the visitors but Anesu Saiti somehow missed an empty goal.
That moment became expensive.
Ngezi broke quickly and Zvavaviri turned provider, setting up the in-form Malvin Gaki, who headed home in the 25th minute for the second goal.
Chiefs had moments before the break. Saiti and Jimu Gwara found pockets behind the defence, but Melikhaya Ncube failed to keep his effort down when the chance opened up.
They looked like a different side after the restart.
Gwara pulled one back in the 53rd minute after capitalising on a misplaced back pass, then three minutes later Denzil Mapuwa completed the turnaround in mood if not scoreline, finishing from a Saiti assist to level matters at 2-2.
For a few moments Chiefs had dragged themselves back into the contest and Ngezi suddenly looked uncertain.
But they had no answer to the hosts’ pace out wide.
Substitute Eddisone Macdonald restored the lead in the 61st minute after twisting Tinotenda Chinovhiringa the wrong way before finishing calmly. Munemo then completed the job later on, capping off a day where Ngezi’s wide men repeatedly exposed Chiefs.
Mutiwekuziwa felt his side had executed exactly what they had planned.
“I am impressed with how we conducted ourselves. The boys stuck to the game plan using the wings because we had deployed youngsters with speed there,” he said.
“We had not won for a number of games, so our mission was to get as many goals as we could. That is why we kept attacking until the final whistle.”
Chiefs coach John Nyikadzino was left frustrated by how his side let the game slip after fighting back.
“We were slow in the first half and they punished us with an early goal,” he said.
“We improved in the second half and got ourselves back into the game, but our transition from defence to attack was slow and we paid for it.
“Their wingers were a handful for our wingbacks. All the goals we conceded came from crosses.”
The scoreline hurt Chiefs, but it also underlined something bigger. Ngezi were supposed to be rebuilding this season. Fourteen matches in, they are still unbeaten and asking everyone else uncomfortable questions.
