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Tobias Mandoreba in Hwange
Hwange . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0

Chicken Inn . . . . . . . . . . . . 0

HOSTS Hwange failed to effectively dust themselves up from the shock weekend 1-0 loss to league newboys Mutare City when they shared the spoils with visiting Chicken Inn in a Castle Lager Premier League tie at the Colliery yesterday.

The coalminers knew they had to pacify their restless fans and had many opportunities to bag maximum points in this contest especially in the opening half, only to miss a glut of scoring opportunities, which saw three of their efforts crash against the crossbar with goalkeeper Elvis Chipezeze a beaten man in all instances.

The first realistic chance for Chipangano came in the eighth minute when Pritchard Mpelele and Pervington Zimunya combined well just outside the Gamecocks box only for the latter’s effort to miss the left upright by a few inches.

Chicken Inn almost raced into the lead on the quarter hour mark after veteran striker Obadiah Tarumbwa sent in a delicate corner, which met with a glancing Divine Lunga header only for his strong effort to find young Hwange goalkeeper Future Sibanda alert on duty.

Hardly two minutes later, the young goalkeeper proved why he is destined for a bright future in between the posts as he denied winger George Majika from a one-on-one situation after Majika had been released by industrious midfielder Clemence Matawu in a swift counter attack.

The tale of lack of luck in front of goal for Hwange was again laid bare on the half hour mark as youngsters Innocent Mucheneka and Mpelele took turns to smash their efforts against the crossbar in a space of a minute as the hosts turned the screws on Chicken Inn, who had simply switched off.

Future Sibanda had just produced a spectacular top drawer save to deny Ben Nyahunzvi on the stroke of half time before Mucheneka yet again hit the crossbar with a ferocious free-kick from the edge of the box to leave the scales evenly balanced going into the breather.

The last half saw both teams conspiring to treat fans to some uninspiring football, which had lack of intent and was punctuated by numerous misplaced passes to leave the crowd bored.

Two substitutes — Physiwell Madhazi and Gilbert Zulu — for Chicken Inn and Hwange respectively were the ones who had chances to rouse the fans from their deep yawning in the last quarter of the game with clear scoring chances which they both fluffed to seal the game’s fate.

The coalminers came out of the draw with more headaches after Hwange referee Hardley Ndazi harshly gave their central defender David Boriwondo a second yellow card deep into injury time to leave the home team to complete the final moments of the game with 10 men.

Boriwondo’s dismissal means Hwange’s central defence is heavily compromised in the next away match to high riding CAPS United in the capital on Sunday after another injury to another trusted defender Gerald Ndlovu last Sunday, a development which left coach Mebelo Njekwa furious after the match.

“We wasted lots of chances in the match and it has been the norm in our last games but we have to work hard to improve.

“I am not one to criticise referees but I think the second yellow card to Boriwondo was a bit harsh but such is football,” Njekwa said.

Gamecocks coach Rahman Gumbo was satisfied with a point from home.

“The one point away from home is not bad as we were also missing about four regular players today. We are still work in progress and I am sure we will get better,” Gumbo said.

TEAMS

HWANGE: F. Sibanda; P. Dube; D. Boriwondo; A. Tshuma; M Mungadze; O. Moyo; C. Muleya; P. Mpelele (A. Banda 66th min); I. Mucheneka; G. Mbweti; P. Zimunya (G. Zulu 70th min)

CHICKEN INN: E. Chipezeze; D. Lunga; B. Nyahunzvi; T. Hadebe; T. Goredema; M. Demera (P. Tafirenyika 52nd min); T. Kutinyu (P. Madhazi 76th min); M. Jackson; C. Matawu; G. Majika (B. Juru 67th min); O. Tarumbwa.