Herentals, WhaWha share spoils

By The NewsDay | Jul. 23, 2022 | 3 Min read

Victory would have seen the Students move from seventh to fourth position, but they connived to miss the chances, especially in the second half. In the end, they managed to collect just a point which was enough to take them to fifth position with 32 points. But they are in danger of being overtaken by the teams below them this weekend.

BY HENRY MHARA

Herentals . . . . . . . . . . . . 0

Whawha . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0

A WASTEFUL Herentals side missed out on the opportunity to move into the top four of the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League after they were held by basement team WhaWha at the National Sports Stadium.

Herentals coach Kumbirai Mutiwekuziva attributed his team’s failure to collect maximum points to complacency.

“We put ourselves under so much pressure thinking that we would get easy points,” Mutiwekuziva said.

“We thought we would easily win this match but as you saw, there are no easy games in the league. The players didn’t express themselves well because of that pressure but thankfully they fought hard although we couldn’t get all the points.

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“It was a very difficult game, a game that we wanted three points but unfortunately we couldn’t manage. Well done to WhaWha for the fight that they gave today. We couldn’t do what we had planned because they had a plan which they executed well, so I should give them credit.

“It’s a missed opportunity for us to go into the top four for sure, but the chance will still come in future games. There are a lot of games still to play, so today was just a setback to our plans but we will keep going,” he added.

WhaWha coach Luke Petros, who was without his top strikers Jayden Barake and captain Albert Matewu through suspension, was happy with his team’s performance.

“Without taking anything away from Herentals, I want to congratulate my youngsters for this performance,” Petros said.

“It’s a very vital point from home that we got and considering the position that we are, it will add to what we have. We played very well, both tactically and technically taking into consideration that we didn’t have our top strikers due to suspension.”

Yesterday’s draw means WhaWha collected four points in the last two matches following their 2-1 win over Highlanders last week.

They remain bottom of the log standings with 19 points from 22 matches.

“I see there is some progress in what we are doing. We would normally go for three straight defeats but not anymore and that can only motivate these youngsters in terms of realising that if they keep working hard, it would be easy for us to come out of the relegation zone. Looking at the number of points that are separating teams, I still have confidence that we will survive relegation.”

Herentals dominated the first half but without creating any meaningful chances.

They improved in the second half in terms of creating opportunities with their best arriving on the 65th minute.

A well worked free-kick saw Tino Benza picking Prince Chama on the right, but the latter’s cross was inexplicably directed wide by Blessing Majarira.

Two minutes later, the Herentals skipper got to the end of another good cross from Davison Marowa, but again wasted the glorious opportunity.

Chances continued to knock on the home side’s doors, with Marowa blazing his effort over the bar from a vantage position moments later.

Benza, who was returning from a two-match suspension for rough play was luck not to receive a red card for a high stud up challenge on Munyaradzi Chirwa. He escaped with just a caution from referee Edward Mucharambei.

Teams

Herentals: T Chikosi, B Majarira, B Majarira (A Mataranyika, 75′), P Chama, A Maliselo (D Marowa, 65′), T Jim (T Benza, 46′), I Benza (J Zhuwawu, 65′), C Gobvu (E Mhungu, 52′), W Chimbetu, W Kapumha, L Ruguchu

WhaWha: A Masaya, T Magwaza, R Useni, J Gadzani, M Chirwa, R Horonda, T Jukulile (S Ganje, 80′), C English (W Mapuwa, 60′), T Chitora, E Mawanda (B Shome, 88′), T Daka