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WHEN DAYS WERE DARK . . . Hwange coach Nation Dube (centre) is escorted by medics on his way to an ambulance at Rufaro in May last year following an altercation with DeMbare security personnel

Robson Sharuko Senior Sports Editor
IT might have taken one-and-a-half years, but the football gods on Wednesday finally delivered a belated compensation bonus to Hwange coach Nation Dube for the punches he took and the pain he suffered in that theatre of chaos at Rufaro last season.
For good measure, the football gods delivered exactly the same scoreline, 4-2 in favour of the hosts at the Colliery, which was a carbon copy of the result from that ill-fated match at Rufaro in May last year when Dube ended up in hospital following an altercation with the Dynamos marshals.

Hwange’s sensational victory over the champions did not only blow a hole in the Glamour Boys’ campaign for a third straight league title, but opened a window of hope, for the chasing pack, in a fascinating marathon which, just like the last two editions, appears set to go to the wire.

The last two league championships have been decided on goal difference, with Dynamos winning on both occasions, and Callisto Pasuwa and his men are trying to become only the second group of Glamour Boys to win three titles on the trot, exactly 30 years after this feat was last achieved.

They suffered a huge setback at the Colliery on Wednesday, their third loss away from their fortress in the capital in four league matches this season, and with four more away matches outside Harare coming in their final eight games, DeMbare need to turn around their awful form on the road for them to be crowned champions again.

The match at the Colliery marked the first time that the Glamour Boys have leaked more than three goals in a single game since Pasuwa took over as coach in August 2011 and the coach will certainly be concerned that his side has conceded seven goals, in away matches at Hwange and Buffaloes, where his defensive rock, Partson Jaure, was unavailable on both occasions.

Hwange’s forwards appeared to pick the holes that Jaure’s absence created in the DeMbare defence and their industry and precision was rewarded by a huge victory that could come in handy for the coalminers in their battle to escape the relegation axe.

For their coach Dube, who was at the centre of controversy when his side was handed a similar 2-4 thrashing by the Glamour Boys at Rufaro last year, events at the Colliery could have felt like payback time for all that he endured back then.

Yesterday, a day after sending the Colliery into delirium with a stunning success story over the dominant team in the domestic Premiership in the past two years, Dube said while the events of that ill-fated afternoon at Rufaro had left emotional scars that will take time to heal, his team’s sensational win on Wednesday was not about revenge.

“What happened, for whatever reason, happened and we cannot change that but what we can do is to move on and that’s what I have done and the best way to deal with such a thing is to try and forget as much as you can,” said Dube.

“For me, personally, I think what happened was wrong, but that’s not something that you want to do on your visitors and our focus, really, was always on treating our visitors very well and just let the two teams play their football on the pitch.

“There were no issues whatsoever about revenge for me, all that we wanted was to try and play our best game, against very tough opponents, and see where this could take us and I’m happy that the boys managed to get a very good victory.

“What is important is for us to remain in the Premier League and that is what we are fighting for and yesterday (Wednesday) we had a good result and that’s all that matters,  everything else, really, like what happened in the past, doesn’t matter.”

Dube has inspired Hwange to two big wins, in recent days, which are in sharp contrast to a poor season for the coalminers, with victories over FC Platinum in the Mbada Diamonds Cup and Dynamos in the championship.

Something, says Dube, has changed in the past two weeks.
“In the last two weeks I started a programme where I have tried to get the boys understand the big role that they have in this community, to get them to appreciate the challenges that the company, which foots our bills, is facing and to get them to focus even better,” said Dube.

“The mine, which pays all our bills, is having its challenges in a tough operating environment and in the past two weeks I have taken my players underground, for them to meet the people who are working down there, and appreciate what they are doing just to keep this mine running and, in turn, get the funds to keep our club alive.

“I have also taken the players to where we are doing open cast mining and they have also met workers there and the mission was also to make them appreciate the challenges that these workers are facing just to keep us going.

“I think the players came out of it with a different view, they now know that all these people are not getting it easy and all they want is for the team to win, to lift their spirits, and I have seen some changes in the players and our mood is good now and everyone appears to be trying to lift themselves, to put in more for the team and the community we live in.

“Before the game against Platinum, I asked for a one-week camp — about 40km outside Hwange — because I wanted the players to bond together and I think we all saw the fruits of that in the Cup game that we won.

“I have also challenged the players to fight for their contracts, to show us why they deserve to be here next year, and we have seen changes in the way they have been applying themselves and we have also made it a point that no one is guaranteed a place in the team anymore and no one knows who is playing this week and who is not.

“In the game against Platinum, Gilbert Zulu didn’t even play for a minute, he was on the bench, but we put him in the game against Dynamos and he responded well, showed us that he deserves to play in the team by scoring — and right now — the team is more important than any player and that is why we are putting the team’s interests first.”

Dube said their big victory over Dynamos will count for nothing, at the end of the season, if his charges lose their focus.
“We have played two big games and won both of them in a space of five days, which means we can win more, but I have been telling the players that these wins will not mean anything if they drop their focus simply because they are now playing teams that are as strong as Dynamos.”

The Glamour Boys will have to find ways of turning around their form on the road, if they are to be champions again, as their tie against Hwange was their 17th league match outside Harare, since Callisto Pasuwa took over — and it was their fifth loss while they have won six and lost six — failed to score on six occasions, for an overall failure rate of 47,05 percent.

In sharp contrast, Dynamos have played 14 away league matches in the capital, under Pasuwa, and won 11 — drew three and are yet to lose a game, scoring 29 goals and conceding just seven — only failing to score just once, against Motor Action in May last year, for an impressive success rate of 85,71 percent.

In total, the away league matches in Harare and outside the capital, the Glamour Boys have played 31 matches under Pasuwa, won 17, drew nine, lost five, all of them coming outside their fortress, scoring 46 goals and conceding 21 for 60 points out of a possible 93 points.