Tobias Mandoreba in Hwange
Hwange . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (1) 2
How Mine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0
THE football gods continue to smile on Hwange as the coalminers produced a sublime performance to engulf fellow miners How Mine in coal flames in this Castle Lager Premiership soccer match at the Colliery yesterday.

Yesterday’s morale boosting win over gritty Kelvin Kaindu’s How Mine, the first time the Zambian expatriate gaffer has lost a match to a Hwange side after both his spells at Highlanders and Triangle, came after Hwange rubbed some salt into struggling Border Strikers’ wounds with a 1-0 victory at Maglas a week ago.

At the end of the day, stand-in head coach Mebelo Njekwa silenced the prophets of doom in this soccer crazy mining town, thanks to two well-executed goals by fast improving Gift Mbweti and former Shabanie Mine striker Pervington Zimunya on either side of the interval.

The match started at a cracking pace with both teams charging at each other but it was the hosts who created the first realistic chance which resulted in the opener on the quarter hour mark after left-winger Pritchard Mpelele embarked on a mazy run on the left flank before sending in a delicate cross which the enterprising Mbweti connected with a volley that beat How Mine goal minder Munyaradzi Diya all systems out.

Another lethal coalminers attack two minutes later almost produced a second only for young Mbweti to take the wrong choice of shooting tamely at goal with Zimunya and Innocent Mucheneka unmarked and “crying” for the ball inside the box. The visitors had their first chance in the 20th minute when they won a free-kick at the edge of the box but were denied by Hwange goal-minder Future Sibanda who smothered a stinging free-kick by Tawanda Muparati with a top drawer save.

How Mine were not done as another thunderbolt free-kick by Qadr Amin five minutes later again found youthful Sibanda alert on duty between the posts. Diya then produced the save of the afternoon 10 minutes from the breather when he denied Andrew Tshuma with a heroic one hand save on the goal line as the hosts threatened to overrun their adversaries.

Kaindu must have read the riot act during the half-time talk as his charges started the last half in a menacing fashion with a dazzling attack involving Tsepo Ranthokoane and former Hwange player Charles Sibanda only proving futile after the former shot lamely into the waiting gloves of goalkeeper Future Sibanda five minutes into the last half.

How Mine were punished three minutes later for their lack of sharpness in front of goal when Hwange’s Zimunya capitalised on some astonishing laxity by goalkeeper Diya and his defence who toyed around with a loose ball in the box which later fell onto the path of the pint-sized striker who cleverly curled the ball past Diya to leave Kaindu fuming on the bench.