The Sunday Mail
BLACK Rhinos skipper Lot Chiunga feels like he is letting his team down, especially now as the army side continues to fire blanks. Chauya Chipembere were yesterday held to their third successive goalless draw, this time by Bulawayo Chiefs at Rufaro.
“Goals are going to come, it’s just that as a senior and a striker I am letting down my team,” said Chiunga. “We should have scored in the last three games, but failed.“All we can do now is continue working hard, and hope for the best,” said the Black Rhinos skipper who has three goals so far this season.
Head coach Herbert Maruwa remains hopeful of better days to come. “We are training hard trying to get the goals. I am positive the goals will come. The good thing is we are not conceding,” he said.
“I can promise the goals will come soon . . . we are creating so we should keep encouraging the boys to convert,” said Maruwa, whose team also failed to score in their last two matches against Harare City and Chapungu.
At the National Sports Stadium, Herentals and Harare City also found the going tough; as they too failed to find the back of the net and settled for a goalless draw.
Harare City coach Mark Harrison went a step further and described his team’s performance as their worst show so far this season.The disgruntled coach said besides wasting a lot of chances through uncoordinated play the team did not compete well enough in both halves.
His opposite number, Kumbirai Mutiwekuziva, seemed satisfied with the result though. “This was a fair result for us; we were on top of the situation, but just failed to convert the chances that came our way.”
A similar fate awatied most of yesterday’s matches, as Chicken Inn and Shabanie Mine were also held at home.Chicken Inn coach Joey Antipas was another frustrated customer, as his side was held 1-1 by a resilient Yadah, stretching the Gamecocks’ winless streak to four matches. Goals from Innocent Mucheneka, and veteran striker Ralph Matema ensured both teams share the spoils,.“We have to keep working until we get the winning combinations, third draw on the trot is not good. If you want to stay amongst the top three or four you have to be winning games, but I still believe we can start winning games. In fact, our boys played a good game, the tempo and movement was good but lack of cutting edge in attack let us down,” he said.
Yadah coach Thomas Ruzive was happy with bagging a point away from home. “I give credit to my boys as they showed character and determination, considering that we coming from a defeat at home against Nichrut, I am happy with the point,” he said.
At Maglas Stadium, ZPC Kariba failed to win for the eighth time on the bounce after they were held to a 1-1 stalemate by Shabanie Mine. ZPC Kariba thought they had won the match after Maxwell Murimi beat his own goalkeeper in the first half, but Shabanie ensured they salvaged something from the match when Kibaki Dhlamini came with the equaliser late in the second,half.Defending champions FC platinum welcomed back their coach Norman Mapeza with a 1-0 win over Mutare City at Vengere Stadium
The goal of the match came courtesy of injury time header from reigning Soccer Star of the Year Rodwell Chinyengetere.
PSL Results and Fixtures
Mutare City 0-1 Platinum
Black Rhinos 0-0 Bulawayo Chiefs
Herentals 0-0 Harare City
Nichrut 3-4 Caps Utd
Ngezi Platinum 1-0 Highlanders
Chicken Inn 1-1 Yadah Stars
Shabanie 1-1 ZPC Kariba
Fixtures
Dynamos v Bulawayo City (Rufaro)
Triangle v Chapungu (Gibbo)
