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Munyaradzi Musiiwa
Chapungu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (0) 2

Mutare City . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0

Chapungu picked themselves up following their midweek 1-0 defeat at the hands of Triangle and smashed Mutare City in a Castle Lager Premier Soccer League encounter at Ascot yesterday.

Second half goals from burly striker Allan Tavarwisa and Patrick Kumbula were all that Chapungu needed to seal their fourth win of the season and their second consecutive victory.

The Gweru airmen had struggled to maintain consistency at home but turned on the power in the second half to pick up from where they left off when they dispatched champions Chicken Inn at the same stadium.

Young Kudakwashe Gurure who was registered during the mid-season transfer window nearly got Mutare City in the lead in the first minute when his curling corner — with a little help of the tide of the wind — was tipped over by Chapungu goalkeeper Roy Mazingi.

Chapungu’ s new acquisition Aleck Marime hit the upright 12 minutes into the match off a corner from Jameson Mukombwe.

Mukombwe brought the best out of Philip Nhete a minute later with a free-kick which the agile goalkeeper had to parry out for a corner. Mutare City had methodological build-ups from the back with young wingers Gurure and Bright Majamanda threatening wide on the flanks but without creating much in terms of scoring chances.

The visitors best chance of the match came two minutes into the second half when veteran striker Caleb Masocha was released by captain Chastern Ngondonga but the striker lacked composure with only the keeper to beat, skying his effort over the bar.

With the home side increasing their tempo, it was not long before they took the lead with their top marksmen Allen Tavarwisa scoring on the 65th with a shot from outside the box after picking up a loose ball.

Despite scoring the second goal, Khumbula wasted some good opportunities since coming on at the start of second half for the ineffective Marime and had a glorious chance in the 58th minute when he capitalised on a defensive error by William Mapfumo but with the goalkeeper to beat he shot over.

The former Dynamos striker was presented with the same opportunity at the death of full time from a Mapfumo mistake but his shot was pushed out for a corner by Nhete.

It was from the resultant corner by Xolani Ncube that Khumbula headed the second for the home side.

Chapungu coach John Nyikadzino was happy with the result as it marked the first time they had won back to back matches.

“It’s a good result for us because we have now managed to maintain consistency. It’s nice that we managed to get a win as we go to the break,” said Nyikadzino.

His counterpart Taku Shariwa blamed poor officiating for the loss.

“There are some silly things beyond your control which affect the outcome of the match. It seems some officials have a vendetta against us because last week against Highlanders we scored a genuine goal but it was disallowed. Now we had most decisions going against us,” said Shariwa.