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Ricky Zililo Sports Reporter
AFTER being beaten to the Zifa Southern Region Division One Soccer league title, police force side Black Boots will seek solace by lifting the LG Foods Super-16 Cup. They face ZPC Hwange in the semi-finals set for Fairbridge on Saturday with their coach Kudzai Mutuda confident of beating the electricity generators.

After watching his side beat Ntabazinduna 2-1 in their outstanding league game yesterday, Mutuda said; “Only winning the LG Foods Cup can soothe my players’ spirits. We gave our all throughout the season as we were targeting that Premiership slot we lost to Tsholotsho FC and winning this tournament will be a bonus for us.”

Zifa Southern Region Soccer Star of the Year finalist Simon Njeleza, James “Chikopokopo” Chikwenga, defenders Lewis “Rambo” Ncube and Tendai Ndlovu who are on loan from Highlanders, goalkeeper Ashford Katsande and Andrew Dzukamanja are some of the players expected to carry the day for Black Boots.

However, they must expect a tough challenge from ZPC Hwange whose players went for months without being paid and are pinning their hopes on winning the LG Foods competition so that they could share the prize money.

ZPC Hwange were ruthless in their quarter-final clash with Mpopoma’s Ajax Hotspurs who they clobbered 3-0, showing intentions that they mean business.

The winner from the Black Boots-ZPC Hwange clash will face either Hwange Juniors or Plumtree Chiefs in the final.

Hwange Juniors and Plumtree Chiefs clash in the coalmining town on Saturday with the former hoping to revenge their last day 1-0 defeat last year.

“Last year they beat us 1-0 on the last day of the season in Plumtree and now they are coming to Hwange, we must make our supporters happy. This time around we want to give them an unfamiliar end of the season which is a defeat. Obviously it won’t be easy but our players have been working hard and they understand the demands of facing an experienced team. They finished 12 points ahead of us but we are not reading much into that as we want to win this tournament,” said Hwange’s assistant coach, Edmore “Makhwebu” Sibanda.

Hwange Juniors booked their place in the last four after knocking out league champions Tsholotsho FC at their background 12-11 after penalty shootouts. They had managed to hold the champions to a goalless draw during regulation time.

Just like Black Boots, Plumtree Chiefs who were among the favourites to lift the title are hoping to find solace in winning the $12,000 sponsored competition.

LG Foods semi-finals fixtures

Saturday: Black Boots v ZPC Hwange (Fairbridge), Hwange Juniors v Plumtree Chiefs (Hwange)

Final Zifa Southern Region Division One Table

P W D L F A GD Pts

Tsholotsho FC 26 16 9 1 40 12 28 57

Black Boots 26 15 7 4 39 18 21 52

Technosphere 26 14 8 4 40 11 29 50

Ntabazinduna 26 13 8 5 31 19 14 47

Plumtree Chiefs 26 12 10 4 36 15 21 46

ZPC Hwange 26 13 6 7 26 17 9 45

Trumus 26 9 12 5 25 19 6 39

Hwange Juniors 26 11 2 13 28 34 -6 35

New West 26 7 7 12 28 31 -3 28

Mpumalanga 26 7 4 15 23 46 -23 25

Elephants FC 26 5 9 12 18 26 -8 24

Quelaton 26 4 8 14 19 35 -16 20

Old Nic Mine 26 5 5 16 17 38 -21 20

Portland Cement 26 1 5 20 1 50 -49 8