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Philani “Beefy” Ncube

Ricky Zililo Sports Reporter—
TRADITIONAL soccer giants Caps United, Dynamos and Highlanders should brace for a tough Castle Lager Premiership season as smaller teams seem to have turned on the heat. A closer look at the table shows that the so-called smaller teams are making action in the topflight league interesting with each passing week.

Coalminers, Hwange FC’s title aspirations should be taken seriously as Chipangano have once again shot to the top of the log.

Hwange’s early season fine run cannot go unnoticed and as much as some might think that it is too early to talk about the championship, the coalminers have done a great job in playing far away from the drop zone.

They are now tied on 14 points with second-placed Buffaloes after seven rounds of matches following their 2-0 win against Bantu Rovers at the Colliery.

For a team that had to fight for their survival last season, Chipangano’s coach Nation Dube remains steadfast in seeing his side avoid the chop in the first half of the season.

“We are taking each game as it comes and it is good that we continue picking points. The good thing is that we share the same vision as a team and with players having already gelled, it makes life easy. What is important is not to read much into how other teams play but concentrate on our matches and make sure that we improve from our mistakes.

“We don’t want to be caught fighting for survival later and that is why it is important to pick points at this stage,” he said.
Already, Hwange have held former champions, Highlanders in Bulawayo with Buffaloes beating last season’s winners Dynamos in Harare and on Sunday we saw newboys ZPC Kariba coming from a goal down to snatch a point against Bosso.

Highlanders had taken the lead through Erick Mudzingwa before the Bosso captain Innocent Mapuranga beat his own goalkeeper Ariel Sibanda to hand the power generators a draw.

ZPC Kariba has already claimed five points out of a possible nine from the traditional giants, beating Dynamos and sharing points with Caps United and Highlanders.

Dynamos played to a goalless draw with Shabanie Mine who have 11 points in Zvishavane. The Harare giants are on position eight with 10 points, the same as Chapungu.

Caps United managed to recover from a 4-0 defeat to Bosso as they dehorned Black Rhinos 2-0. The Green Machine has 11 points and are on position seven.

Another small team that people should take note of is How Mine who are in their second season in the Premiership and are tied on 13 points with third-placed Highlanders and ZPC Kariba who have a superior goal difference.

The goaldminers’ coach Philani “Beefy” Ncube believes its early days yet, to talk about the championship and spoke of the importance of keeping up with the leading pack.

“Obviously if you snooze you lose and it is important to keep up with the leading pack. It’s still early to talk about the title or relegation matters. I believe this will be an exciting season and people should brace for some shocks as anything can happen.

“As for us, we want to improve from last season’s position and we are working hard to become a team that commands respect in the local league and beyond.
“We have to show that going all the way to the Mbada Diamonds Cup final last season wasn’t a fluke by picking as many points as possible,” Ncube said.
On Saturday, How Mine beat Chicken Inn 2-1 with the leading top goal scorer Kuda Musharu grabbing a brace to take his tally to six goals from seven matches.
Ncube believes that the best is yet to come from Musharu.

“Of course Musharu is getting important goals for us but you are yet to see his best. He has to keep his feet on the ground. It is his duty to score as a striker and I am happy that he gets the goals. Everyone in the team is working hard to make sure that we keep up with the top teams.”