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Philani “Beefy” Ncube

Mzingaye Sibanda  Sports Reporter
HOW Mine will be up against the odds following their two opening defeats to Bantu Rovers and Dynamos in the Castle Lager Premiership as statistics show that teams that lost to the Harare giants on Week One in the last three years were relegated.
It could just be mere coincidence but the odds demand harder work from the Matabeleland South gold miners.
Black Mambas, Hardbody and Kiglon have all been relegated from the Premier Soccer League in the past three seasons after opening and finishing with matches against Dynamos.

Last year Black Mambas were booted out after losing 2-0 in the final game, a year before Hardbody was shown the exit door after a goalless draw against DeMbare.
Kiglon were relegated after a 2-0 defeat in 2011 while How Mine have already lost 0-1 against Dynamos in Week One.
How Mine will have to fight to avoid what befell other clubs that lost to Dembare in the first week.

The gold miners have lost 1-0 to Dynamos and 3-1 to Bantu Rovers despite going three stages in the Confederation Cup at the beginning of the year.
Goals from Nqobizitha Masuku, Lawson Nkomo and an own goal from Nyasha Mukumbi saw How mine losing 3-0 toTshintsha Guluva, their second loss in two games.
How Mine assistant coach Simba Rusike rubbished the curse fears.

“That is rubbish and we are here to prove such statistics wrong. We are confident in ourselves and what people should accept is that in football you go through bad spells.

“We can’t be pressing panic batons yet. We are worried of course by the two losses but not by what happened to other teams in the past. It’s just unfortunate that we have started on a bad note but we are not worried about those statistics because they mean nothing to us. I can assure you come end of the season we will be smiling together,” boasted Rusike.

The gold miners assembled one of the strongest outfits in the Premiership, beefing up their squad in preparation for the Caf Confederation Cup. They unfortunately crashed out of Caf last month.

Kudakwashe Musharu, Bernard Donavan, Morris Kadzola, Emmanuel Matiranga and James Chitereki are some of the players that coach Philani “Beefy” Ncube recruited during the off-season.

Ncube’s right hand man Rusike said that the presence of top players meant that players will be fighting to be in the first line up for each game.
“We are working well and there are no worries or pressure from the executive or How Mine community but the fact that we have quality players puts us under pressure to win,” he said.

Ncube said his team started preparing for the match against Chapungu yesterday.
Before the weekend encounter How Mine had declared that they were not sweating over the absence of Musharu who is on trials with AmaZulu in South Africa.
“The game was an eye-opener for us, we can’t be crying foul because Musharu was not there, we lost it , it was just not our day,” added Rusike.

Another team which started poorly this season is Harare City despite finishing third last season tied on points with Highlanders and Dynamos.
They have not picked a point in their opening games. The Sunshine Boys were beaten by Caps United 2-1 over the weekend.

High-flying Hwange continued their superb start after recovering from two goals down to win the match 3-2 against FC Platinum.
Alec Marime grabbed a third brace for Hwange in two outings after Rodwell Chinyengetere and Evans Rusike did it in their opening game against Buffaloes of Mutare.

If coal miners continue their goal scoring run they will be untouchable this season. Hwange are  expected to be a force to reckon with later this season or next year when their junior players would have gained a good measure of game time. Oscar Lungu, Stanford Taruvingira and Pritchard Mpelele-Mwamba are expected to combine well with Chinyengetere, Gilbert Zulu, David Boriwondo and Gerald Ndlovu.

After a superb runner-up finish in 1978, Hwange have been perennial strugglers in the league.
Joey Antipas’ side Chicken Inn failed to repeat their first game heroics after losing 2-0 to Buffaloes.

Newcomers ZPC Kariba stunned champions Dynamos in the dying minutes of the game after Artwell Nyamiwa’s close range shot two minutes into added time.
After doing the same against How Mine in their opening game DeMbare had high hopes of dismissing the power utility men who proved to be too hot to handle for the Glamour Boys.

Highlanders thrashed Shabanie Mine 4-1 to win their first game. However the performance was not so convincing. It is still work in progress for Bosso.
Goals from Milton Ncube, Knox Mutizwa and a brace from Munyaradzi Diya sealed the Shabanie Mine fate.