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From Tobias Mandoreba in HWANGE
Hwange …………………………(0) 2
Chiredzi …………………………… 0
HWANGE continued to put on the dark horse tag in this year’s Castle Lager Premier League soccer race after posting a crucial victory over a stubborn Chiredzi at the Colliery yesterday.

The coalminers might have prevailed yesterday but coach Nation Dube needs to work on his side’s finishing as the hosts could have embarrassed the sugar cane growers with a rugby scoreline win had they not wasted a glut of clear-cut scoring chances throughout the afternoon.

At the end of the day, a clinical penalty conversion by striker Alec Marime in the 56th minute and substitute Gilbert Zulu’s flashing header in the 87th minute was all Hwange gaffer Dube needed to make a dream return to the technical bench after a two-week absence while attending a Caf A coaching licence course in Harare.

It did not take long for Hwange to start knocking on Chiredzi’s doors as early as the 5th minute Tonisani Sibelo and Tafara Chese combined well deep in the visitors half only for the latter’s curling cross to be smothered by an alert defender Tinashe Mutete before a well-positioned Rodwell Chinyengetere could bang home from close range.

In the 12th minute Sibelo again overlapped in a menacing fashion before releasing a trademark cross which was met by Chinyengetere’s glancing  header which zoomed over the crossbar by a few inches.

When Chiredzi got their only meaningful chance of the opening half in the 18th minute, Tatenda Kanyemba’s well taken header found veteran Hwange goalkeeper Timothy Sibanda very alert in between the posts.

The home side continued probing and in the 25th minute Sibelo’s intended cross took an awkward swerve in midair to deceive goalkeeper Brighton Chipuwa who completely missed the ball which he intended to punch out only for his defender Mutete to mop up the mess with a desperate goal line clearance.

Chipangano’s woes in front of goal were not over as yet as the drum-beating home fans watched in utter disbelief on the half hour mark when Marime latched on to a sitter by Farai Vimisai inside the Chiredzi box only to produce a toddler’s effort which Chipuwa gratefully collected.

Two minutes after Marime’s glaring miss, attacking midfielder Isaac Masame was replaced by youngster Pritchard Mpelele in an injury forced substitution with the young left back being thrown in an unfamiliar attavking role.

Mpelele vindicated his coach with an excellent performance as a left winger from that moment to the final whistle.
Hwange anchorman Collen Muleya also joined the list of culprits in front of goal 10 minutes from half-time when he pounced on to a loose ball at the edge of the box after a goalmouth melee only to direct his effort to the birds to again leave Chiredzi off the hook.

Nation Dube was clearly frustrated on the bench as his charges continued to miss chance after chance.
Hwange started the last half with the same script as Vimisai was allowed acres of space to shoot in the 47th minute but directed his effort straight at the goalkeeper.