The Sunday News
Langton Nyakwenda
Harare City ……………………………………………………….. (0) 1
Hwange …………………………………………………………….. (0) 1
TAURAI MANGWIRO has described his first 10 games in charge of Harare City as pathetic after his side was held by Hwange in a Castle Lager Premier Soccer League match at Rufaro yesterday.
Super substitute Honey Chimutimunzeve had given City hope when he headed home a Tendai Samanja free kick in the 74th minute but Hwange forward Newman Sianchali, who had also come on in the second half, spoiled the party with a 95th minute volley.
For the second consecutive week, Mangwiro’s Sunshine Boys agonisingly failed to cross the line after experiencing the same pain last week when they were equalised deep in injury time at Highlanders.
At the end, City players looked totally dejected and the draw seemed more like a defeat rather than a point gained.
“This is not good at all; we have performed dismally in this first third of the season. Five draws in 10 games is not good enough.
“When we play at home we should get three points and today I think I watched the first half from my boys.
“It is so sad we didn’t get the second goal which obviously could have killed off the match. The problem is we didn’t create so many chances and to me these are two precious points lost,” said Mangwiro.
With the draw, Harare City just moved a place up to sixth and missed an opportunity to move into fourth place after Highlanders were beaten 2-1 by Chicken Inn in a Bulawayo derby played at Barbourfields yesterday.
City will look back at William Manondo’s miss in the 32nd minute when the attacking linkman failed to tap the ball into an open net after he was fed by Munyaradzi Diro Nyenye.
Chimutimunzeve could also have killed off the match as a contest with seven minutes left on the clock when he read well a clever pass from the dangerous Tino Kadewere but his effort crashed against the cross bar.
Just when Mangwiro thought he had registered his fourth victory, Sianchali reacted faster than the City defenders and volleyed the ball home with the last kick of the game.
The goal was a relief for Hwange coach Nation Dube who hasn’t had the best of starts this season.
“I told my boys to keep going, in the end our fighting spirit paid off. It is good to pick a point away from home,” said Dube.
Hwange are now 11th on the log standings after picking up five points in the last three games.
Meanwhile, an instinctive brace from bright upstart Macmillan Chigora yesterday helped Flame Lily get their second win of the season, after they beat Buffaloes 2-0 at Lafarge.
Though the game lacked pure quality football, the former Dynamos Juniors midfielder amply made up for it with two quality goals.
Chigora livened up a dull opening spell after giving his team the lead in the 30th minute.
The 21-year-old capitalized on some bad defending by the Buffaloes’ centre back Liberty Chakomora, who spent way too much time with the ball, dispossessing him before chipping the ball over the visitors’ goalie Blessing Mundimujira.
He could have doubled his tally four minutes after the Buffaloes’ duo made an identical error but this time he blazed his effort wide.
With a slender lead going into the second half, MacMillian then made sure of the points with a headed effort off left back Edwin Madhanaga’s cross.
This time timing off his run and beating his marker, the quality of the cross that made the entire stadium stand in applause. In between his goals, however, the home side were guilty of wasting numerous chances that could have made their game a free scoring affair.
The striking duo of Farayi Mugumwa and Silvester Munhira were the chief culprits.
As for Buffaloes, they had arguably one of the lifeless performances of the season literally failing to make an impact on the game, a fact coach Joseph Takaringova was quick to point out.
“It seems as if my boys didn’t even pitch up for the game and as a result everything went wrong. We lacked co-ordination, communication and failed in the basics. The defending was bad and we were duly punished for it with that first goal.
“Right, we have to go back to the drawing board and work on the team’s attitude as we prepare for our next encounter,” said Takaringova.
His opposite number, Nesbert Saruchera, was more than happy with his team’s second win of the season and the fact that he leapfrogged out of the relegation zone.
“I think we played well, creating many chances and could have won by a bigger margin.
“We now have to build on this performance and make sure we carry this momentum into our next game,” he said.
