Motor Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0 Hwange . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0
Report by Henry Mhara
FORMER Motor Action player Isaac Masame’s anticipated homecoming show failed to take place due to paperwork problems, but that could not stop his new club Hwange from collecting a point in a Castle Lager Premier Soccer League match at Motor Action Sports Club yesterday.
The attacking midfielder was expected to face off with his former paymasters of seven years and was on the starting line-up, but had to be taken off the list minutes before kick-off after Hwange failed to get his clearance letter from the Premier Soccer League (PSL).
Hwange coach Nation Dube was also forced to make another last minute change to his team after it emerged that defender Erick Chipeta’s papers were not in order.
Dube said: “I’m still at a loss of words on how Masame and Chipeta failed to get their papers in time. Motor Action were dillydallying in issuing a clearance letter and I have no doubt they are behind it.
“We submitted all the relevant papers for all our players and those two were not cleared. When we enquired we were told the papers were with Fifa and they were still waiting for a confirmation. I had to make last minute changes and that had a big impact because I had to change the game plan completely. But I’m happy with the performance of the team. It’s a new squad and for them to hold their own like what they did was good. I cannot complain with the point we got.”
The same predicament also befell Motor Action coach Joey Antipas who had to do without Clemence Matawu, Yves Ebabali and former Dynamos striker Dylan Chivandire as they had not been issued with their reverse clearance letters. Both teams paraded their new acquisitions with Motor Action throwing in six new additions on the first line-up.
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Douglas Walaza, Blessing Sande, Charles Chiutsa, Louis Matawu, Merciful Ncube and Tigere Mparaganda all started for the Mighty Bulls while Hwange had Prichard Mpelele, Craven Banda and Phakamani Dube.
The two teams created very few chances with the first real one coming in the 25th minute when Motor Action’s Ncube failed to connect a Ngoni Maviri square pass. Hwange had the chance to go in front 10 minutes later, but Nkosana Siwela’s rising shot from inside the box flew over.
Motor Action big defender Charles Mutero had his dipping free-kick tipped over moments before the halftime break.
Both teams had genuine shouts for penalties in the second half, but match day referee Ruzive Ruzive waved play on both occasions. It was the home side who controlled the tempo for the better part of the second half, especially after the introduction of Passmore Bernard.
Tigere’s header crashed against the bar from a Bernard cross while Louis Matawu shot wide from an acute angle when a square pass was a better option.
Antipas thought his side could have done better.
“We missed three influential players who could have made a big difference and I am just hoping their papers would have been sorted by the time we play our next match. We need to improve in attack. We had chances to kill them off especially at the death,” said Antipas.
