WATCH: Byo City taste victory, as Whawha draw

Mehluli Sibanda, Senior Sports Reporter 

Bulawayo City …………….. (0) 3

ZPC Kariba …………………(0) 0

BULAWAYO City put up a brilliant second half display to pick up just their second win of the season in the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League when they hammered 10-man ZPC Kariba at Barbourfields Stadium yesterday.

The last and only win for Amakhosi came on 27 February when they shocked Highlanders 1-0 at Emagumeni.

Yesterday’s win saw City move to 10 points and lifted them off the bottom of the table as they leapfrogged Whawha who drew 1-1 with Harare City.

Whawha, with eight points are now bottom of the log. 

ZPC Kariba finished one man short after Parkington Mazhawu was sent off by referee Happy Mabhena for persistently protesting the penalty decision.

Roddy Sibanda, on loan from Highlanders, a first half substitute scored from the penalty spot before he provided an assist for Genius Mutungamiri.

This was after Melikhaya Ncube had found the opener for the home team. 

Farai Tawachera, who succeeded Philani “Beefy” Ncube has now collected four points from his first two matches after he drew 1-1 with Dynamos away in Harare in his first match in charge. 

On what has really changed since he took over, Tawachera pointed at the fact that the team was losing by one goal margins which meant that they were not making forays into the opposition half. 

“Like I said when I came in we wanted to look at how many times do we go at our opponents, from that we realised that this team was losing one nil one nil so it means our entries into the opponents’ half were a bit fewer so we  just worked on that going forward,’’ Tawachera said.

Rodwell Dhlakama, the ZPC Kariba coach, who, just like Tawachera was in charge for a second game felt that there were too many negatives that need to be sorted out in his camp which need to be corrected.

ZPC Kariba are languishing in the relegation zone with 13 points collected from three wins and four draws. 

“First and foremost we didn’t come to the party especially in the first half, we lost possession in our defensive third, we thought maybe going into the second half we were going to improve, it was the same old song, we did not pick ourselves up,’’ Dhlakama said. 

City dominated from the start but did not translate that dominance into goals.

It was in the second half that they came alive. 

Ncube headed in a perfect cross into the box from a free kick in the 53rd minute before Sibanda netted from the spot after Nqobile Ndlovu was brought down inside the box.

Sibanda, booked for taking off his shirt in celebration turned provider when his perfect pass found Mutungamiri who sealed the win in the 69th minute. 

Meanwhile, strugglers WhaWha and Harare City settled for a 1-1 stalemate after a lacklustre Castle Lager Premier Soccer League match played at Ascot stadium yesterday.

Jayden Barake and Emmanuel Mandiranga were on target for the two sides respectively.  WhaWha began the match with much impetus and they were thrust ahead after eight minutes by Jayden Barake, who nodded the ball home from a high cross by Dibbelar Mapuwa.  

Harare City got their equaliser through  Emmanuel Mandiranga on the 80th minute when he rose high to head the ball home from a corner kick.

–Additional reporting by Patrick Chitumba in Gweru.