MONOMOTAPA recovered from their defeat to Black Rhinos in the opening match of the season to beat army side Buffaloes in a Castle Lager Premier Soccer League match at Gwanzura Stadium yesterday.
REPORT BY TAWANDA TAFIRENYIKA
Former Gunners forward Ismael Lawe was the hero after scoring a double in the first half to help his team register their first win of the season after a surprise 3-2 defeat to Black Rhinos last week.
Monomotapa started strongly, but skipper Kuda Musharu missed a good chance in the 9th minute following a cross by Ronald Chitiyo.
However, Lawe thrust Monoz ahead five minutes later with a downward header that beat goalkeeper Hopeful Bere to deflate Buffaloes hopes.
In the 19th minute Clive Boroma watched in disappointment as Buffaloes keeper Bere saved his effort. Buffaloes also had a chance on 25 minutes, but Tawanda Mareya missed a headed opportunity following a good cross from Douglas Zimbango as Monoz goalkeeper Tapiwa Zvaita stretched to save his effort.
However, the army side equalised four minutes later with Michael Mageja heading into the nets from a corner kick by Stephen Sibanda.
After the equaliser, Monoz continued to press forward with Lawe coming close a minute later only to be denied by goalkeeper Bere.
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The former Gunners marksman, who combined well with Chitiyo, however, completed his brace on 34 minutes picking up a loose ball from near the centre circle, charged towards goal unchallenged before beating goalkeeper Bere with a low shot.
At the restart, Buffaloes coach Saul Chaminuka made some changes bringing on Philip Chandisaita for Liberty Chakoroma before withdrawing Wonder Sithole to introduce dreadlocked midfielder Roy Mwenga in the 51st minute.
Mwenga appeared to have brought urgency in the team’s attack, but Monoz held on. They could have added a third goal towards the end, but Lawe missed with a wild effort after a wonderful cross by Hillary Mugoniwa.
Monoz coach Biggie Zuze was happy to register his first win of the season. “It’s a good result for us. The team played well like they did last week. It was unfortunate we could not get the result we wanted.
“Today (yesterday) we played well again and we got a good result. We created chances in both halves, but we still need to improve on finishing,” said Zuze.
Chaminuka blamed the defeat to poor defending. “We let in two soft goals. It was the same thing last week. We need to improve on the way we defend,” said Chaminuka.
It was the second successive defeat for Buffaloes after they were beaten 2-1 by FC Platinum in their opening match of the season last week.
In Triangle, the hosts thrashed Shabanie Mine 3-0 through a double from veteran striker Limited Chikafa in the 46th and 55th minutes and Willard Gondo, who opened the scoring in the 26th minute.
At Dulibadzimu Stadium in Beitbridge, Tripple B fell to their first home defeat of the season as they went down 1-2 to Black Mambas.
