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Ricky Zililo, Senior Sports Reporter
THE behaviour of home fans during Sunday’s Castle Premier League duel pitting giants Dynamos and Highlanders at Rufaro Stadium in the capital brought to mind an often used cliché: those who live in glass houses should NOT throw stones.

Dynamos fans have in the past complained about Bosso fans’ propensity to resort to violence at the slightest provocation by match officials’ decisions.

Last Sunday it was Glamour Boys’ fans that threw missiles onto the field towards the end of the match forcing the referee to briefly stop the match.The untoward behaviour by the few Dynamos fans who sought to spoil the country’s flagship football match earned their side a $2 000 penalty from the PSL for throwing missiles on the field of play.

Not only did the Dynamos fans throw missiles, but their ball boys disrupted Highlanders’ attacks by kicking the ball into the field  each time Bosso approached the DeMbare box.

Highlanders coach Erol Akbay slammed hooligans as well as ball boys’ antics.

“We went to play football and I think we should have won the game. We were denied a clear penalty when Godfrey Makaruse was hacked in the box. After that we had their supporters throwing missiles and you wonder if that is football. I don’t condone bad behaviour by supporters and to see that from Dynamos supporters was bad for football.

“They also had the ball boys disrupting our attack by kicking the ball into the field. Those boys were acting on instructions and if that’s how they play football, then football won’t develop in this country,” Akbay said.

Highlanders coach felt robbed of a penalty in the 52nd minute when Makaruse was brought down by defender Phakamani Dube inside the box and Masvingo based referee Arnold Ncube despite cautioning Dube for the foul, did not give Bosso the spot-kick.

The match saw on-fire Cameroonian striker Christian Epoupa, Dynamos’ scorer, shown a straight red card by Ncube in the dying minutes of the game for head-butting Highlanders player Peter Muduhwa in an off the ball incident as DeMbare were preparing to take a corner.

Epoupa’s red card resulted in frustrated Dynamos fans from the Vietnam stand resorting to throwing missiles onto the pitch on the 90th minute mark, briefly stopping the game.

It was a battle to have the three minutes optional time played and the DeMbare ball boys made the situation worse as another ball would be thrown into the pitch once Highlanders were in attack. This was just a poor advert for Zimbabwean football as the match was being beamed live on SuperSport 10.

Bosso equalised through defender Benson Phiri in the 60th minute.

Surprisingly, there has been deafening silence on DeMbare fans’ unruly behaviour from Zifa, the Sports and Recreation Commission as well as the PSL who are quick to issue strong statements denouncing hooliganism in cases relating to Highlanders.

It seems Dynamos are being treated with kids’ gloves as in May 2012 their marshals assaulted Hwange coaches after clashing in the tunnel before kick-off.

Hwange went on to play the game without their head coach Nation Dube and his assistant Mamelo Njekwa after the duo had gone to hospital and DeMbare won the game 4-2.

Results

Friday: Ngezi Platinum Stars 2-1 Harare City
Saturday: FC Platinum 1-0 How Mine, Black Rhinos 1-1 Bulawayo City, Chicken Inn 1-2 Yadah FC, Chapungu 1-1 Shabanie Mine, Tsholotsho FC 0-1 ZPC Kariba
Sunday: Bantu Rovers 1-3 Caps United, Triangle United 3-1 Hwange, Dynamos 1-1 Highlanders

Table

P    W    D    L    F    A    GD    Pts
Chicken Inn    25    16    3    6    28    12    16    51
FC Platinum    25    14    9    2    27    12    15    51
*Dynamos    23    15    4    4    39    17    22    49
Ngezi Platinum    25    15    4    6    44    25    19    49
ZPC Kariba    25    11    6    8    26    21    5    39
How Mine    25    10    7    8    22    25    -3    37
Triangle United    25    9    8    8    26    25    1    35
Black Rhinos    25    9    6    10    26    22    4    33
Highlanders    24    9    6    9    21    23    -2    33
Caps United    22    8    8    6    30    23    7    32
Bulawayo City    25    9    5    11    29    32    -3    32
*Chapungu    24    7    9    8    15    17    -2    30
Yadah FC    25    8    6    11    22    30    -8    30
Harare City    25    7    7    11    19    20    -1    28
Shabanie Mine    25    6    8    11    16    25    -9    26
Hwange    25    6    5    13    21    31    -10    23
Tsholotsho FC    25    2    10    13    14    34    -20    16
Bantu Rovers    25    3    3    19    22    52    -30    12

*match abandoned

@ZililoR