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Ray Bande in Mutare

Bikita Minerals 1-1Yadah FC

THE Khama Billiat effect was felt more on the terraces than on the field of play when his Yadah Stars outfit struggled to salvage a point in an exciting encounter against Bikita Minerals FC which ended in a one all stalemate at Sakubva Stadium yesterday.

Judging by the sizeable crowd that attended yesterdays’ match at Sakubva Stadium, given the background that football fans in Mutare usually do not turn out in numbers for low key Premiership encounters involving relatively small teams, Billiat must have had the pulling effect.

However, even though much was expected from the former Warriors star Khama Billiat, the former Kaizer Chiefs player was just an ordinary figure with very few flashes of brilliance to show for the 95 minutes he was on the field of play.

The two set pieces that he directed wide of target on either side of the break and a 60th minute hard and low shot that gave Bikita Minerals goalkeeper Francis Tizayi no headache, were the only notable opportunities that the highly rated forward ever came close to add his name on the scoresheet.
At the end, Billiat is yet to open his account in this campaign. 

No wonder, in a post-match interview, Bikita Minerals coach Saul Chaminuka boasted that he actually had instructed his players never to treat him with too much respect.

“Khama Billiat is just like any other human being or player with two legs and two hands. You saw that he was just ordinary and I think the message I drove home to my players that they should just treat him like all the other players worked out well for us,” Chaminuka said.

Billiat turned down a request for a post match interview.
Be that as it may, the Eastern Region Division One League boardroom champions Bikita Minerals left Sakubva Stadium regretting, not only a glutton of clear cut scoring opportunities, but clumsy defending that resulted in a last minute equalizer for their opponents – Yadah FC – in an otherwise exhilarating Castle Lager Premiership encounter.

The match kicked off 28 minutes late as the home team – Bikita Minerals – did not have their player licences which were said to be on their away from the capital and the match officials had to take images of each player for the encounter to start.

When the match finally started, the Lithium Boys, as Bikita Minerals are fondly referred to by their fans in the remote Bikita area of Masvingo province, were the better team of the two especially in the first half where they had none but themselves to blame for missed opportunities.

With a solid defence and a creative midfield that created numerous scoring chances, their dreadlocked striker Enock Moyo was the main culprit.

In one of the scoring opportunities that Moyo failed to do what was expected of a top man at this level of the game, the drealocked forward got to the end of a neat exchange of passes from the middle of the park but headed the ball wide of target from close range in the 39th minute.

However, a rightly positioned Moyo finally got it right in the 66th minute when he lurched onto a rebound in the box and fired home a blistering shot that hit the roof of the net.

As the match moved towards the final moments, a last minute miraculous own goal by Carlton Munzabwa amid a goalmouth melee was all the Miracle Boys needed to salvage a point from this tightly contested encounter.

On the overall performance of his team, Chaminuka said the lack of adequate preparations was always going to affect them negatively.

“We are a team that was on suspension and everything was hanging in the balance. Yes, we are happy that we are now playing in the Premiership but we never had enough time to adequately prepare compared to the time that our opponents in this league had.

“However, we will take each match as it comes. I am happy that my players seem to be adjusting and following instructions. I think we will be able to compete favourably,” Chaminuka added.

His opposite number – Thomas Ruzive – who was forced to make a maximum of five substitutions during this encounter, said: “I cannot really complain about our performance as a team. Yes, with a little bit of luck we could have walked away with maximum points but that is the nature of the game of football. 

“For the substitutes, I was trying to bring in some energy by fielding those youngsters in the second half and it is unfortunate that we could not get a goal earlier than we did.”