Kaindu edge Harare City

How Mine  1 - 0 Harare City
TIMOTHY January rose from the bench to score a priceless goal that gave How Mine victory that coach Kelvin Kaindu badly needed in this Castle Lager Premier Soccer League match at Luveve. The miners moved five places up the table into 13th place and Kaindu, whose charges held misfiring Dynamos to a goalless draw on Thursday, will feel that the last few days have been good for his men.

January, introduced in the 30th minute for an ineffective Fungai Chirinda, scored at the stroke of half-time, connecting with his weaker right foot at the edge of the box, with his volley beating diving Harare City goalkeeper Maxwell Nyamupanedengu.

How Mine had gone into yesterday's game without a win in their last five home games. They last posted a victory at home on May 14 when they beat CAPS United 2-1. In their previous five home games, How Mine drew 0-0 with FC Platinum, lost 0-2 to Highlanders, suffered a 1-2 defeat against Ngezi Platinum Stars, drew 0-0 with Dynamos and 1-1 against Border Strikers.

What made the victory against Harare City sweet for Kaindu is the fact that they made a significant rise on the table. "I think this is one of our biggest wins in the sense that it pushed us up. We laboured to get a goal but I think there are lots of positives in the sense that we've improved in the way we defend," said the Zambian mentor.

"What is important now is to build from this victory." City coach Moses Chunga said this was one of his worst games. "This was one of my worst games since I took over. We seem to be struggling with consistency and we have to improve on our urgency going forward. Our execution in the final third wasn't good.

"Going forward I think we've to work on our mental attitude," said Chunga. How Mine could have gone into the break leading by a bigger margin had their forwards Milton Ncube and Tinashe Makanda utilised the chances that came their way.

Inside the opening 10 minutes, Ncube broke on the left side, charged into the box coming face-to-face with Nyamupangedengu, but the former Highlanders and Ajax Cape Town player took too long to decide and had his shot blocked for corner by City defender Chrispen Dickson.

In the 19th minute, Dickson almost gifted Makanda a goal when the young striker pounced onto an intended header back to the goalkeeper but a weak shot didn't bother Nyamupangedengu.

City's centre-back Arnold Chiveya was lucky to escape a red card in the 25th minute when he pulled back Ncube who was charging towards goal. Chiveya was the last man in defence but the referee Bonamali Bwanali just awarded How Mine a free-kick outside the box which Praise Tonha fluffed.

The home team kept pressing and on the 45th minute January pounced on a loose ball, hitting it with aplomb to give the gold miners the lead. The second half saw the visitors upping their game and their first chance fell to substitute Jerry Chipangura in the 73rd minute but the attacking midfielder failed to beat How Mine goalkeeper Donovan Bernard from close range.

Three minutes before full-time City's captain Francesco Zekumbawira won a free-kick at the edge of the box but Edwin Madhanhanga hit straight at the wall. The visitors were not yet down as they gave How Mine some anxious moments which called for desperate defending towards the end of the contest. Qadr Amini had to throw his body into the firing line in time added on to block Zekumbawira's effort.