The Sunday News
Ngqwele Dube, Sports Correspondent
THE Southern Region Division One League reached the halfway mark last week with former Premiership side Hwange taking pole position and could be headed back to the top flight at the end of the season.
With 16 games having been players, Chipangano are on 37 points, six ahead of second-placed Tsholotsho and 10 adrift of Indlovu Iyanyathela on are third. Hwange has won 11 games, drew four and lost only once. The performance is a sign the Nation Dube-coached side is eager to bounce back in the Premiership after being relegated last year.
The championship could be between the two former PSL sides, Hwange and Tsholotsho but the latter are aware they have to reduce the points gap if their dreams of making a quick return to the Premiership are to come to fruition.
Zifa Southern Region chairman, Musa Mandaza said they are happy with the way the league has progressed so far. He said they have managed to ensure all teams have played 16 matches going into the halfway mark.
“We are taking a two-week break to give our teams a breather. As the executive we are happy with the way the league has progressed and we ensured all teams play the same number of matches at this point. While there have been incidents of some teams failing to fulfil fixtures it has not been widespread and we have managed to deal with that,” he said.
League anchors ZRP Bulawayo experienced some struggles and the team failed to fulfil two of their matches. They failed to play against Victoria Falls side Mosi Rovers on 3 June after they failed to pay for the match venue and the game was awarded to the visiting side while on 9 June they arrived at the match venue two-and-a-half hours after the scheduled kick-off time of their tie against ZPC Hwange.
ZRP was slapped with a $500 fine and docked three points for the second incident. The team has only managed to win three matches, drew the same number and have lost 10 games, a situation that has left them at the bottom of the log with 12 points.
Mandaza said he was happy there were no withdrawals and indications are that the league will be completed with all the 16 teams.
