adminLovemore Zigara
Midlands Correspondent
Whawha 1-1 Harare City
IT was a tale of two halves as Whawha and Harare City settled for a 1-1 draw in a drab Castle Lager Premiership match played at Ascot Stadium yesterday.
The Sunshine Boys dominated the first half and it was James Jam who thrust the visitors into the lead in the 26th minute.
Malvern Nyakabangwe rose from the bench to restore parity for Whawha three minutes after the breather.
After dominating the first period in which the Harare City had three clear cut scoring chances, gaffer Taurai Mangwiro was not happy for coming out without maximum points.
“I’m not happy with the result especially after dominating play for the better part of the match. For me it is two points dropped than a point earned,” he said.
His counterpart Lloyd Mutasa was satisfied with the result though he also felt that he could have collected three points.
“Obviously as a coach you would want to win but such is football so a draw is better than nothing. However, going forward we should take advantage of playing at home to pick maximum points and today with luck on our side we should have won this match.”
Whawha also took solace at the fact that they managed to attract a respectable crowd which can be attributed to a supporters’ recruitment drive which is being spearheaded by its supporters’ chairman, Anthony Madzivanyika.
After a dull opening 20 minutes where there was not much goalmouth action to write home about, the match changed when James Jam fired a speculative shot from about 30 metres and beat a badly positioned Matthew Wurayayi in goals for Whawha.
Wurayayi should take the blame for gifting the Sunshine Boys with the goal as Jam was equally surprised that his effort had gone in.
With the prisons wardens on the back foot, former Caps United attacking linkman Honey Chimutimunzeve could have doubled his side’s lead in the 36th minute but his effort went off the mark from a cross by Arnold Chivheya.
The Sunshine Boys were at it again when Martin Vengesai took advantage of sloppy defending by Chekera Pasi when he ghosted from the blind side to fire first time ahead of Jimmy Kanono.
However, his shot went off the mark.
During the breather, Whawha made a double substitution by taking off the pair of Albert Matewu and Oscar Lungu for Malvern Nyakabangwe and Kenneth Bhuka respectively.
The move breathed life into the Whawha side and in the 48th minute Bhuka engineered Whawha’s goal after he beat Kutyauripo before whipping in a cross which was met by Nyasha Dube.
Dube fired but his effort was blocked by Tafadzwa Dube but the ageless Nyakabangwe was at the nick of time to rifle home Dube’s spill.
From there on Whawha upped their game and created their fair share of chances but in the end a draw was the fairest result for both teams.
Teams
Whawha: M Wurayayi, M Machazane, J Kanono, V Madamombe, L Genti, G Saunyama, T Jukulile (K Chidzero, 85th minute), C Masocha, A Matewu (M Nyakabangwe, 46th minute), N Dube, O Lungu (K Bhuka, 46th minute)
Harare City: T Dube , M Nyenye-Diro, A Chiveya, T Ndlovu, D Kutyauripo, R Uchena, J Jam, M Vengesai
(O Mukuradare, 87th minute), N Alifandika (N Ziwini, 89th minute), H Chimutimunzeve (F Zikumbawira, 72nd minute), T Chawapiwa
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