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Shabanie Mine, Harare City match abandoned

Sport
POOR officiating and crowd trouble reigned again in the Castle Premier Soccer League when Shabanie Mine were denied what looked like two genuine goals

POOR officiating and crowd trouble took centre stage again in the Castle Premier Soccer League when Shabanie Mine were denied what looked like two genuine goals during their match against Harare City at Maglas Stadium yesterday.

Shabanie Mine . . . . . . . . . . . . . (0) 1 Harare City . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (1) 3 (Match abandoned after 81 minutes due to crowd trouble)

This is the second time that the venue has seen violence after the Good Friday mayhem during their match against Highlanders. Highlanders were fined $8 000 for that and Shabanie escaped without even a caution yet they, as the hosts, had failed to provide adequate security.

Referee Sambulo Dube stopped yesterday’s match with nine minutes to go after Shabanie fans ran amok.

Harare City defenders scored two own goals and on both occasions, the referee ruled them out for offside.

In the first instance, 15 minutes into the match, near-side assistant referee Lloyd Mapango flagged for offside when Chrispen Dickson, under pressure from Caleb Masocha, beat his own keeper Max Nyamupangedengu from the edge of the box in an attempt to clear.

It is the second incident, in the 80th minute, that eventually sparked the already angry Shabanie supporters into action as their team was trying to launch a comeback.

Far-side assistant referee Ephias Mukono signalled for offside after Farai Mususunye’s goal-bound shot had been directed into the nets by Zibusiso Sibanda.

The referee’s decision riled the Shabanie fans who started throwing missiles at Mukono, leading to the match being stopped.

Efforts by coach Luke Masomere and his players to quell their supporters’ anger did not bear any results as fans continued to throw missiles into the pitch, leading to the abandonment of the match.

Match commissioner Hasmon Zingoma refused to entertain the media.

Said Masomere after the match: “The game was not handled properly. There was a lot of biased refereeing and I believe it was match-fixing. Our supporters misbehaved and I really condemn that, but we must also look at the extenuating circumstances.

“On both occasions, it is the Harare City defenders who shot past their own goalkeeper, but both goals were denied. So that is reason enough for anyone to be angry.”

City coach Bigboy Mawiwi said: “We were on top of the situation as we came into the match with a lot of confidence. We were clearly the better side and deserved to win, but it’s sad that the match had to end this way. People should learn to appreciate when their side is playing badly and I also feel that the referee must apply the rules correctly because we also had some decisions going against us.”

Osbourne Mukuradare had opened the score for City in the 20th minute before City had a goal disallowed in the 46th minute when Nathan Ziwini seemed to have been on-side when he scored, but was ruled out.

Trymore Nyamadzawo added the second in the 48th minute and Martin Vengesayi put the icing on the cake in the 59th minute.

For Shabanie, Pevington Zimunya was on the scoresheet in the 47th minute.