How Mine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (2) 2 Monomotapa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (0) 1
Report by Fortune Mbele
PREMIERSHIP new boys How Mine upstaged disjointed former league champions Monomotapa with two second half goals to claim their second victory in the third round of the 2013 Castle Lager Premiership at Luveve Stadium yesterday.
Midfielder Simon Njeleza scored first in the 29th minute for How Mine before another strike in the 38th minute by Timothy January handed former champions Monomotapa their second defeat since the start of this year’s seaon.
Monomotapa got their facesaver through two minutes before the final whistle through substitute Zvikomborero Bizeki after How Mine goalkeeper Nonjabulo Dube mistakenly bumped the ball on him on the counter and the striker swiftly acted before the hosts’ defenders could make a clearance.
Interestingly, Monomotapa have lost their two games to teams that are coming from Division One, losing their first to Black Rhinos 3-2 from a 2-1 lead and then falling to How Mine after putting up a lacklustre show at Luveve yesterday.
It was How Mine’s second victory after beating fellow debutants Triple B 2-0 last Thursday and coach Philani Mabhena was delighted about collecting maximum points after the 4-1 drubbing by FC Platinum at Mandava on Easter Monday.
“It was a good result. These are very important three points for us. It was a good reaction from the boys especially after the loss in the game that we played last. The young goalkeeper was in a bit of a rush to go on the counter that is why we conceded that late goal,” Mabhena said.
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His counterpart at Monomotapa Biggie Zuze conceded defeat and said he still has in his squad green players who have never had Premiership experience and still needed game time to settle.
“It was a good game. We lost the match in the first half, but we are getting there. With the inexperienced players that we have, it was a fair display from the youngsters. What these boys need is game time and we will be working towards that,” Zuze said.
How Mine fired warning shots four minutes into the game with a deft flick from Njeleza from a corner kick that was tipped over the cross-bar by Monomotapa goalkeeper Tapiwa Zvaita before the hosts’ man-of-the-moment Simba Sithole packed a thunderbolt in the fifth minute that hit the left-upright.
The second half did not have much to offer with Monomotapa testing goalkeeper Dube for the first time in the 66th minute, but substitute Ishmael Wadi’s shot was saved by the goalkeeper.
Teams How Mine: N Dube, B Choto, K Banda, B Dube, H Dick, X Moyo, M Mupera, T Ndlovu (T Masuku 74th minute), T January, S Sithole, S Njeleza (T Moyo 81st minute)
Monomotapa: T Zvaita, J Tigere, N Meson (I Wadi 53rd minute), L Sithole, P Tonha, C Boroma, H Mugoniwa, K Musharu, I Lawe, R Chitiyo (Z Bizeki 61st minute), C Rukwanhi (M Mungombe 42nd minute).
