WhaWha bid farewell to PSL

Grace Chingoma Sports Reporter
Harare City . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (1) 1
WhaWha . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (0) 1
WHAWHA bade farewell to the Castle Lager Premiership yesterday by becoming the second team to be relegated from the top-flight after Dongo Sawmill who were demoted two weeks ago. The Gweru outfit’s draw took their points to 22 points but with six points still to play for, it is not going to be enough to help the team survive the chop.

Harare City striker Patrick Kumwala found the opener in the third minute of added time of the first half while WhaWha equalised through Roy Useni two minutes after the restart. However, there were no tears at Rufaro from the WhaWha players who somehow knew their fate had virtually been sealed once they surrendered their destiny to other teams.

Their coach, Lloyd Mutasa, however, said he is hopeful that the team will be able to bounce back from Division One. “We have been relegated but I think we learnt a lot and we learnt very slowly. But this is not the end of the world, we have to regroup and come back again. We have seen teams going back to Division One and coming back.

“We had our own challenges but you look at a team which is going down and you get a bus that is motivation. That is an indication that probably some people are seeing that there is progress and it is a motivation, I think that bus will inspire the youngsters to show that the institution wants a football team. I think we will brace ourselves and come back strongly,” said Mutasa.

The club this week got a new team bus from the Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctioal Service, a gesture which Mutasa believes shows their paymasters still have the football club in their plans. The former Dynamos and Kiglon coach was coy on whether he would be going to the First Division with the team or would be looking for a new club in the top-flight next season.

“I am employed by the Zimbabwe Prison Service and I have to do duty when I am called but you never know in football. “You look at football, there are so many factors that affect performance but as a coach you would want to take those challenges and probably they will inspire you to greater heights. I will come up fresh next season,” said Mutasa.

Harare City coach Taurai Mangwiro said the forced substitution early into the match when they had to replace injured defender Crispen Dickson with skipper David Kutyauripo affected their game plan.

“It kind put off our game plan into disarray that forced substitution but I thought we had done well to take a half time lead. “We are looking forward to the last two matches. Sometimes we lacked patience and at times the goalkeeper took some spectacular saves. Disappointment in the end, we couldn’t maximise today, hopefully there would be better luck next time.

“I still believe we can finish in the top six, six points at stake, we will see how it goes. While WhaWha were waving goodbye, their fellow prisoners Flame Lily are still in mathematically and lived to fight another day after they drew 1-1 with FC Platinum at Larfarge.

The prisoners, now on 24 points, would have to win their remaining two matches and hope that Buffaloes who are on 29 points and Tsholotsho on 30 points lose their last two matches. It is a tough call but in football never say never and Flame Lily coach Takesure Chiragwi said they will keep fighting and see what happens with other teams in the relegation.

“We still believe we can manage mathematically but the chances are now 60-40. But we are still fighting until up to the end because we don’t know what will happen in the next games for the other clubs who are fighting relegation.

“But we still have confidence that we can get there. So we are still fighting and try and collect maximum points in our next game. “The players don’t need any message going into the next match. They know we are fighting relegation, so the message is already there,” said Chiragwi.

The former CAPS United striker feels they could have won the match.

“First half we didn’t play well and conceded a silly goal but that is part of the game. I am happy we came back strongly and we managed to get an equaliser, I think by any chance we should have won this game but that is how it is in football, that’s the result, we have to take it. “We got so many chances but couldn’t convert. It is a case of two points dropped. We wanted to get maximum points,” said Chiragwi.