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Nation Dube

Tobias Mandoreba Hwange Correspondent
HWANGE FC is seeking to breathe life into their faltering chase for the league title when they host relegation threatened Harare City at the Colliery Stadium tomorrow.
The coalminers started the campaign on a blistering pace especially in the opening third of the season when they sat at the apex of the table for the better part of that period.

But a shocking loss of form in the past four league encounters in which they lost three games in a row before the away draw with Harare City has seen the team fall from the summit to fifth on the standings.

The coalminers first lost to Chicken Inn at home, travelled to Caps in the capital and came back empty handed before they were electrocuted at home by debutants ZPC Kariba with their draw against the Bigboy Mawiwi coached team serving a temporary stop to the freefall.

Hwange coach, Nation Dube is optimistic that his lads can revive their campaign with an important victory tomorrow in a Castle Lager Premier League reverse fixture.

“We are going into this game with one aim of collecting three points and nothing else will do. Everyone is eager to depart from that bad patch and the boys will fight the whole afternoon to bring back the smiles on the faces of our supporters.

“I don’t want to put the boys under unnecessary pressure but we want to have a strong finish at the end of the season by picking up points even away from home,” said Dube.

“I have to assess the fitness of a few of my players who have been down due to varying reasons. Gerald Ndlovu and Isaac Masame have not been feeling well while Evans Rusike and Maqhawe Mpofu are still nursing injuries but I hope they will recover in time for the game.  If they fail to recover on time I will have to look for suitable replacements to do battle,” added Dube.

Should Ndlovu and Mpofu fail to recover in time, prodigal son Tonisani Sibelo, who had jumped ship to join Chicken Inn at the end of 2012 season but has returned to the coal mining town could find himself in the heart of the coalminers’ defence after Hwange got his clearance from Chicken Inn.

A lot is also expected from the likes of Alec Marime, Gilbert Zulu, Farai Vimisai, Nkosana Siwela and speed merchant Tafara Chese as the miners will hope to dig out maximum points in this must win match.

Hwange supporters chairman Gamuchirai Nekatambe urged the fans to play their part in ensuring a victory for Hwange tomorrow.
“I am urging the fans to come in their numbers to cheer our boys who I am highly confident will recover their early season form. We should know that in football a team can lose form at times so not all is lost as we are still very much in the race especially if we start winning our games. I have been attending some of their training sessions and I am ready to celebrate at the end of the game,” said Nekatambe.

After tomorrow’s game Hwange travel to Harare to face tricky customers ZPC Kariba who are yet to lose this season.