Sports / Soccer
How Mine dismiss Monoz
08 Apr 2013 at 03:07hrs | Views
How Mine 2 - 1 Monomotapa
HOW Mine edged a disjointed Monomotapa in a lukewarm Castle Lager Premier Soccer League match played before a disappointing crowd at Luveve Stadium yesterday.
Two first half goals from Simon Njeleza and January Timothy were enough for the Philani Mabhena coached side while the visitors, under Biggie Zuze, were beneficiaries of a schoolboy blunder by How Mine shotstopper, Notice Dube who gifted second half substitute Zvikomborero Biseki with a simple goal two minutes before fulltime.
They have a 100 percent home record.
The home side, buoyed on by their ever vociferous travelling fans were the first to settle down and as early as the fourth minute, Thandazani Ndlovu forced an acrobatic save from Monomotapa goalkeeper, Tapiwa Zvaita and a minute later, hitman Simbarashe Sithole's clever chip hit the upright post with Zvaita at sea. It could have easily been the opening goal.
To their credit, Monomotapa, who were using left back Hillary Mugoniwa as the target man, managed to withstand the pressure but were always on the backfoot as How Mine kept on pilling on the pressure. In the few instances that they ventured forward, there was always a stubborn wall, in twin centreback, steely Herbert Dick and the ever steady Brighton Dube while the left and right back positions were also impenetrable as Khumbulani Banda and Brighton Choto were in no mood for favours, probably eyeing payday on Tuesday.
In the 24th minute Sithole's flashing header off midfield general Mernard Mupera went agonisingly wide with their bench already up in anticipation of a goal.
Four minutes later, Sithole was back asking questions on the Monomotapa goal area although his shot hit the side netting. A poorly taken goal kick from the resultant Sithole miss saw the gold miners going one up when Njeleza, always probing seized an opportunity inside the box and took a crack at goal that gave goalkeeper Zvaita no chance. With the goal, How Mine's confidence grew.
In the 38th minute, Choto laid a sitter for January inside the box who cleverly reacted with a shot that found the back of the net.
Danger and lost points were now clearly visibly in the Monos bench and with it, there was panic that saw Zuze pulling out Charles Rukwanhi for Morgen Mungombe, three minutes before haltime. Mungombe took up the anchorman role while Praise Tonha shifted to the rightback position. The change did little to change their fortunes though.
Monomotapa started the season badly, losing 3-2 to Black Rhinos before registering a 2-1 win over Buffaloes with Ishmael Lawe scoring a brace.
Meanwhile, Buffaloes beat Hwange 4-2 in a high scoring encounter in Mutare yesterday.
Teams:
How Mine: N Dube, B Choto, K Banda, H Dick, X Moyo, M Mupera, T Ndlovu (T Masuku 74th minute), J Timothy, S Sithole, S Njeleza ( T Moyo 81st minute)
Monomotapa: T Zvaita, J Tigere, C Rukwanhi (M Mungombe 42nd minute), N Melson (I Lawe 65th minute), L Sithole, P Tonha, R Chitiyo (B Zvikomborero 61st minute), C Boroma, H Mugoniwa, K Musharu, I Lawe
HOW Mine edged a disjointed Monomotapa in a lukewarm Castle Lager Premier Soccer League match played before a disappointing crowd at Luveve Stadium yesterday.
Two first half goals from Simon Njeleza and January Timothy were enough for the Philani Mabhena coached side while the visitors, under Biggie Zuze, were beneficiaries of a schoolboy blunder by How Mine shotstopper, Notice Dube who gifted second half substitute Zvikomborero Biseki with a simple goal two minutes before fulltime.
They have a 100 percent home record.
The home side, buoyed on by their ever vociferous travelling fans were the first to settle down and as early as the fourth minute, Thandazani Ndlovu forced an acrobatic save from Monomotapa goalkeeper, Tapiwa Zvaita and a minute later, hitman Simbarashe Sithole's clever chip hit the upright post with Zvaita at sea. It could have easily been the opening goal.
To their credit, Monomotapa, who were using left back Hillary Mugoniwa as the target man, managed to withstand the pressure but were always on the backfoot as How Mine kept on pilling on the pressure. In the few instances that they ventured forward, there was always a stubborn wall, in twin centreback, steely Herbert Dick and the ever steady Brighton Dube while the left and right back positions were also impenetrable as Khumbulani Banda and Brighton Choto were in no mood for favours, probably eyeing payday on Tuesday.
In the 24th minute Sithole's flashing header off midfield general Mernard Mupera went agonisingly wide with their bench already up in anticipation of a goal.
In the 38th minute, Choto laid a sitter for January inside the box who cleverly reacted with a shot that found the back of the net.
Danger and lost points were now clearly visibly in the Monos bench and with it, there was panic that saw Zuze pulling out Charles Rukwanhi for Morgen Mungombe, three minutes before haltime. Mungombe took up the anchorman role while Praise Tonha shifted to the rightback position. The change did little to change their fortunes though.
Monomotapa started the season badly, losing 3-2 to Black Rhinos before registering a 2-1 win over Buffaloes with Ishmael Lawe scoring a brace.
Meanwhile, Buffaloes beat Hwange 4-2 in a high scoring encounter in Mutare yesterday.
Teams:
How Mine: N Dube, B Choto, K Banda, H Dick, X Moyo, M Mupera, T Ndlovu (T Masuku 74th minute), J Timothy, S Sithole, S Njeleza ( T Moyo 81st minute)
Monomotapa: T Zvaita, J Tigere, C Rukwanhi (M Mungombe 42nd minute), N Melson (I Lawe 65th minute), L Sithole, P Tonha, R Chitiyo (B Zvikomborero 61st minute), C Boroma, H Mugoniwa, K Musharu, I Lawe
Source - chronicle
