BY TAWANDA TAFIRENYIKA
CAPS United . . . . . . . (2)6
WHAWHA . . . . . . . . . . . 0
Caps United finally remembered how to win, annihilating Premiership returnees WhaWha in a Castle Lager Premiership tie at the National Sports Stadium yesterday.
Lloyd Chitembwe’s men chose the perfect stage to show the fans that their title agenda remained alive with a near flawless display against WhaWha.
Caps United striker William Manondo was the destroyer-in-chief, scoring a hat-trick with Rodwell Chinyengetere weighing in with a brace before Tatenda Makurumidze wrapped up the match with a diving header. Chitembwe did not tinker much with the team that played in the 6-2 loss to Manica Diamonds last week, with defender Marshal Machazane making his debut, while goalkeeper Simbarashe Chinani gave way to Tonderai Mateyaunga.
WhaWha started the match showing a lot of verve with Albert Matewu coming close two minutes into the match only to be denied by the goalkeeper.
However, Caps United soon got into the groove and it didn’t take long before they were 1-0 courtesy of Chinyengetere, who connected a pass from Ian Nyoni.
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Manondo then pounced on a rebound to double the lead on 41 minutes.
Chinyengetere, however, completed his brace on 57 minutes profiting from a set up by Ronald Chitiyo. As if not to be outdone, Manondo hit the back of the net nine minutes later following a wonderful delivery from Phineas Bhamusi.
The former Harare City man returned six minutes later to complete his hattrick from another delivery by Bhamusi. As the Green Machine continued to enjoy their dominance substitute teenager Makurumidze put the final nail on the coffin with a delightful diving header four minutes from fulltime.
Chitembwe was happy with the win. “It was a good response. I am happy for the players. The whole idea was to get a good result and we knew if we had more attacking players we had chances of scoring and I want to give credit to the players. It was a very good performance with Machazane making his debut, he gave us the solidity that we didn’t have in Mutare and especially that we didn’t concede, it was good for him. And for Makurumidze to score his first goal was an icing on the cake. But there is still a lot of work to do,” he said.
His counterpart Luke Petros blamed inexperience for the loss. He, nevertheless, believes his charges showed character and is hoping they will finally get a win in the next match at home.
“It was a lesson for the boys. Experience made the difference. We have a young team, they are learning and it was our thrust at WhaWha to give these youngsters a chance. Despite the heavy defeat there are some positives. I thought they showed character and hopefully they will come right in the match at home,” he said.
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