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Saul Chaminuka

Sikhumbuzo Moyo  Senior Sports Reporter
LEAGUE debutants ZPC Kariba believe they will seal their Premiership status with a win over How Mine at Hartsfield Grounds this afternoon. The power utility men, who marked their entry into the elite league with a shock 1-1 draw with Caps United and 1-0 win over Dynamos go into today’s match with 38 points while their opponents How Mine are facing relegation with 24 points from 21 matches.
A win for the Saul Chaminuka-coached outfit will see them amass 41 points which will be unassailable by the bottom four clubs.

“If we win tomorrow then we will be home and dry in terms of our survival in the league, we are aware though that it’s not going to be an easy game for us,” said Chaminuka yesterday.

He said their preparations went on well during the course of the week adding that the only unfortunate incident was the withdrawal of their in-form striker Norest Mkwezaramba who has had to leave camp to attend to pressing family commitments.
“We will soldier on although we will obviously miss him,” said Chaminuka.

The match will be more of a revenge mission for the gold miners who felt hard done by in the reverse fixture after they let a 2-0 lead with two minutes to go slip away from them for the match to end 2-2.

How Mine who moved to the top of the table on the day, thought they had wrapped up the game 2-0 with five minutes left but ZPC Kariba scored twice through Pride Tafirenyika and unheralded left winger Trevor Chikede to snatch a memorable draw.

When almost everyone in the stadium, including the ZPC Kariba players thought the game was over, the exciting Tafirenyika pulled one back when he scrambled the ball home from inside the six-yard box in the 89th minute.

Two minutes later, the diminutive Chikede found himself unmarked near the penalty spot after the How Mine central defence temporarily went to sleep and rifled home the equaliser that stunned the visitors.

The equaliser left then How Mine coach Philani “Beefy” Ncube furious with almost everyone including the fourth official whom he attacked verbally. He was also involved in an exchange of harsh words with ZPC Kariba team manager Partson Ndabambi and had to be restrained by some members of his backroom staff.

The bulky Ncube felt Gweru referee Thomas Masasa should have blown for an infringement on his player arguing that had happened before the loose ball fell to Chikede.

There will not be Ncube this afternoon on the bench but a man who calls himself Doctor of Football in Zimbabwe, Luke Masomere.
He is already on record saying he is preparing his squad for the 2015 season, an indication that relegation is clearly not part of his agenda.

Masomere, one of the most successful coaches in the domestic league, with a league title, two trophies and league runners-up medal, is a shrewd coach who can turn around the fortunes of the gold miners with his magic touch.