SHABANIE MINE . . . . . . . (1) 2 HIGHLANDERS . . . . . . . . .(0) 1
ALLIEWAY NYONI SPORTS CORRESPONDENT
SHABANIE Mine took their fight against relegation to the last day as they picked up three crucial points against Highlanders in a Castle Lager Premiership match played at Maglas Stadium yesterday.
Jairos Tapera’s side is now in 13th place with 35 points, the same as Harare City who drew 1-1 against Caps United yesterday.
In their last match of the season, Shabanie Mine travel to Triangle, who beat Chiredzi 1-0 to take their points tally to 37 and relative safety. Shabanie will be hoping to win the last match, hoping that results elsewhere will favour them.
Highlanders, on the other hand, remained in seventh place with 42 points and are sure to finish in the top eight to qualify for next season’s One Wallet Cup. They face Chapungu at Hartsfield in their last match of the season.
Shabanie scored through Smart Muchabaiwa in the 7th minute and Xolani Ncube 10 minutes after the breather while Highlanders replied through Gabriel Nyoni in the 79th minute.
Muchabaiwa though was later set for an early shower after refusing to hand over the ball to Nyoni after the referee had awarded Highlanders a free kick.
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Said Tapera after the match: “The guys played very well and I believe with such spirit we are going to survive relegation. If we maintain this winning spirit in our next match, things will be fine.”
His counterpart Mark Mathe was a disappointed man.
“It’s a game of football whereby you expect any result and we missed opportunities and at the end that affected us heavily,” said Mathe.
Muchabaiwa had a nightmarish week after Shabanie Mine supporters accused him of fixing their loss to How Mine last weekend, but seemed to redeem himself yesterday, tightly marking troubled Highlanders star Charles Sibanda.
