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Paulo Jorge Silva

Tobias Mandoreba in Hwange
Hwange . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .0
Dynamos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0
UNDER-pressure coaches Mebelo Njekwa of Hwange and Dynamos’ Paulo Jorge Silva took their fight for survival and relevance at the helm of their respective technical benches to another day as their charges clashed and shared the spoils in this Castle Lager Premier League soccer match at the Colliery yesterday. Hwange’s Njekwa trooped into this battle with only one win to show for his efforts after four matches, with his counterpart Silva not in any better situation as the Harare giants also landed into the coal mining town with only four points from the opening four matches, something which is simply unacceptable by the Glamour Boys’ high standards.

At the end of day, after some sweating in the field of play under the simmering Hwange temperatures, it will be the blue and white masses who will be more pleased with the point as their team were simply missing in action for most parts of the match which was well handled by Bulawayo referee Philani Ncube.

Both teams were cautious in the opening 10 minutes of the match but it was the coalminers who produced the only realistic chance of that period, after anchorman Collen Muleya held his head in disbelief as Dynamos defender Elisha Muroiwa ghosted in from nowhere to block his goal-bound thunderbolt for a corner with his goalkeeper Tatenda Mukuruva nowhere near the action.

Dynamos then threatened on the quarter hour mark after Raphael Kawondera cleverly chested down the ball for young Kudzanayi Nyakasaka who, however, disappointed by miscuing his shot with only goalkeeper Future Sibanda to beat.

Another Hwange attack minutes later saw Innocent Mucheneka roasting Muroiwa near the corner flag before laying a sitter for young Hwange enterprising striker Gift Mbweti, whose effort was again smothered by the Dynamos rearguard.

From there on, the match became a drab affair, which left both sets of fans yawning in the terraces with the more vocal DeMbare fans only rousing back to life moments before the break after some individual brilliance by Godknows Murwira saw him cleverly weaving his way past Hwange defenders Phakamani Dube and Gerald Ndlovu, before sending in a lovely cross which was completely missed by Nyakasaka with his intended diving header.

In a swift counter-attack, Hwange’s Mucheneka blazed his effort over the crossbar with a few inches to left, leaving the teams goalless at the end of the opening half.

Seeing that his toothless strike-force was fast turning his afternoon into a nightmare, Dynamos coach Silva threw in the ageless Evans Gwekwerere three minutes after the restart but he was not given any room to manoeuvre and make any impact as he was kept under lock and key by the Hwange defensive duo of David Boriwondo and Gerald Ndlovu.

The Glamour Boys continued to be in the freezer for the better part of the last half, save for some flashes of brilliance by pint-sized Bret Amidu, whose efforts had no one to complement.

There was an off-the-field drama in the 65th minute when a shirtless DeMbare fan took the security details by surprise by jumping from the terraces to sprint towards the Hwange goal area, where he left a bottle with some unknown substance.

This didn’t go down well with the Hwange marshalls, who manhandled the rowdy fan much to the chagrin of the Dynamos fans, who were already frustrated by their team’s lifeless show.

Luckily, the police in riot gear brought the situation under control within minutes. Other changes by Silva later in the game of throwing into the fray Carlos Rusere and Tichaona Chipunza for Murwira and King Nasama respectively failed to yield any dividends up to the end as Dynamos continued to play second fiddle to Hwange, whose letdown was also the final pass.

Njekwa was pleased with the point gained at the end of the day. “We did not play badly as we kept possession well but unfortunately we didn’t convert our dominance into goals. We will continue fighting in our next game,” he said. An emotional Silva took all the time in the world to grant the post match interview as he first did some warm down with his players before going to greet the animated Dynamos fans in the terraces.

“Overall, the boys did not play well as they could not keep the ball on the turf and it was made worse by our opponents who kept playing those long balls. “It’s back to work for us as we seek to get the right formula because here I am not happy with our performance,” the Portuguese coach said.

Teams
Hwange: F. Sibanda; P. Dube; P. Mpelele; G. Ndlovu; D. Boriwondo; O. Moyo; A. Chuma; C. Muleya (N. Sianchali 68th minute); G. Zulu; G. Mbweti; I. Mucheneka.

Dynamos: T. Mukuruva; O. Mushure; E. Muroiwa; S. Linyama; O. Mwerahari; G. Murwira (C. Rusere 63rd minute); R. Kawondera (T. Chipunza 73rd minute); S. Alimenda; B. Amidu; K. Nyakasaka; K. Nasama (E. Gwekerere 48th minute).