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Ray Bande in Mutare

Bikita Minerals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (0) 1

Yadah FC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (0) 1

EASTERN Region Division One League champions Bikita Minerals were made to rue missed chances in their opening Castle Lager Premier Soccer League encounter against Yadah at Sakubva yesterday. 

The re-arranged match attracted a sizable crowd on a Fifa international weekend.

Bikita Minerals were very late to join the Premier Soccer League and were confirmed via the boardroom a week ago. 

As fate would have it, their opening match was delayed by 28 minutes as the home team — Bikita Minerals — did not have their player licenses which were said to be on their away from the capital.

Match officials had to take images of each player for the encounter to start.

When the match finally started, the Lithium Boys, as Bikita Minerals are fondly referred to by their fans, were the better team of the two especially in the first half where they had none but themselves to blame for missed opportunities.
With a solid defence and a creative midfield that created numerous scoring chances. 

Their dreadlocked striker Enock Moyo was the main culprit as he failed to convert, at times, in “goalkeeper-to-beat” situations.

However, a rightly positioned Evans Katema finally got it right for Bikita Minerals in the 66th minute when he lurched onto a rebound in the box and fired home a blistering shot that hit the roof of the net.

As the match moved toward the final moments, a last minute own goal by Carlton Munzabwa amid a goalmouth melee was all the Miracle Boys needed to salvage a point from this tightly contested encounter.

Even though much was expected form former Warriors star Khama Billiat, the former Kaizer Chiefs player was just an ordinary figure with very few flashes of brilliance to show for the 95 minutes he was on the field of play.

In a post-match interview, Bikita Minerals coach Saul Chaminuka boasted that he actually instructed his players not to give Billiat too much respect.

“Khama Billiat is just like any other human being or player with two legs and two hands.

You saw that he was just ordinary and I think the message I drove home to my players that they should just treat him like all the other players worked out well for us,” Chaminuka said.

On the overall performance of his team, Chaminuka said the lack of adequate preparations was always going to affect them negatively.

“We are a team that was on suspension and everything was hanging in the balance. Yes, we are happy that we are now playing in the Premiership but we never had enough time to adequately prepare compared to the time that our opponents in this league had.

“However, we will take each match as it comes. I am happy that my players seem to be adjusting and following instructions. I think we will be able to compete favourably,” Chaminuka added.

His opposite number — Thomas Ruzive — who was forced to make a maximum five substitutions during this encounter, said: “I cannot really complain about our performance as a team. Yes, with a little bit of luck we could have walked away with maximum points but that is the nature of the game of football. 

“For the substitutes, I was trying to bring in some energy by fielding those youngsters in the second half and it is unfortunate that we could not get a goal earlier than we did.