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NewsDay

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Caps United stop rot

Sport
HARDLIFE Zvirekwi netted a brace as CHAMPIONS Caps United ended their three match winless streak with a victory over basement Bantu Rovers at Hartsfield yesterday.

Bantu Rovers…(1)1 Caps United….(2)3

HARDLIFE Zvirekwi netted a brace as CHAMPIONS Caps United ended their three match winless streak with a victory over basement Bantu Rovers at Hartsfield yesterday.

BY FORTUNE MBELE

The Green Machine skipper got the first goal 19 minutes into the match, and sealed the points with his second on 54th minute, after Dominic Chungwa had added the away side’s advantage just after the half hour mark.

Former Caps United skipper Tapuwa Kumbuyani scored a consolation for Bantu Rovers.

The win ends a bad run for the champions, where they had picked just two points from a possible nine, to find themselves at the wrong end of the log table.

But with yesterday’s victory, they moved to 10th position with 32 points, and have three games less than most of the teams in the league.

Caps United assistant coach Fungai Kwashi was relieved and happy that his side had managed to pick up the three points at long last.

“Well done to our lads. It’s never easy playing a team that is fighting relegation. I am happy we managed to win. It has been very difficult with fatigue taking its toll and the recovery is not easy. We have to look forward to the next game. We are not worried about all other teams. We will just take it step by step and we are not going to put ourselves under pressure at all,” Kwashi said.

Zvirekwi thrust his side in front with a header inside the penalty box from a Crispen Machisi cross on the left.

With Bantu Rovers on the backfoot and defending all the time, Chungwa pounced on a loose ball off a rebound following a save by the hosts’ goalkeeper Wellington Muuya from a Moses Muchenje effort to slot home.

Bantu Rovers settled in into the game towards the end of the first half and sloppy defending by Caps United saw Kumbuyani rising above the defenders with a header past Caps United goalkeeper Edmore Sibanda, connecting from a free-kick by captain Kudzai Dzingwe.

Zvirekwi got the third with a shot from an acute angle with Muuya and his defenders caught flat-footed.

It was yet another defeat for Bantu Rovers, who look set to make a quick return to Division One with only three wins and three draws in 25 matches.

The team’s coach Methembe Ndlovu said after the match, “Congratulations to the winning team. We lost fair and square. We had to do a lot of defending and did not have our regular defenders but that is not an excuse. We played against a better team.”

Teams

Bantu Rovers: W Muuya, K Dzingwe, S Nyahwa, G Nyasha, S Sakala, T Kumbuyani, P Zivengwa (R Masuku, 57’), M Dube, B Ncube (N Mpofu, 61’), N Papias (M Ncube, 79’)

Caps United: E Sibanda, V Musarurwa, H Zvirekwi, C Munzabwa, S Makatuka, D Chafa (K Nyamupfukudza, 70’), M Muchenje, J Zhuwawu (J Ngodzo, 71’), G Goriyati, C Machisi, D Chungwa (A Chidiebere, 78’)