Onward Gangata
in GWERU
Whawha………………………………… (1)2
Cranborne Bullets…………………. (1) 3
Cranborne Bullets came from behind to score three times past the prison wardens to record their first victory of the season in a Castle Lager Premier League match played here yesterday.
The Gweru side put in a lethargic performance in which their defence once again failed to rise to the occasion. Having taken the lead in the first half through Jayden Barake, Whawha failed to manage the game and made several mistakes in key areas, including a Callum English Brown’s own goal that brought the game to square one. Kinsley Mureremba and Tadiwa Chibunyu scored the other goals for Cranborne while substitute Bhuto Phiri got Whawha’s second goal deep into added time.
Cranborne coach Nesbert Saruchera was understandably a happy man after the match.
“This is our first win. We are very excited, although we should have scored two or three more, but overall I am happy we picked our first set of three points,” Saruchera said.
Whawha coach Luke Petros admitted his team failed to execute the game plan well and attributed the team’s defensive frailties to lack of quality.
“We failed to execute the game plan well; we got the lead and sat back and allowed the opponents to come back into the game,” he said.
“I had about four players from my defence who were starting in previous games, but were not available today due to injuries so had to use some players in unfamiliar positions,” Petros said.
The Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional side are now bottom of the log standings, while Cranborne climbed up to 14th on the table with six points.
Whawha started off the better side and nearly took the lead in the first minute when Barake’s header off an Evidence Mawanda cross went just over the bar.
The hosts continued to pepper Cranborne’s goal and had a penalty shout turned down by referee Munyaradzi Majoni after Takudzwa Jukulile was hacked down in the box 17 minutes into the match. But moments later, Mureremba nearly gave Cranborne the lead only for Whawha goalkeeper Terrence Chiku to parry the effort out for a corner.
Whawha got the opener 10 minutes later when debutant English Brown in a moment of brilliance, went on a solo run to set up Tinei Chitora, who squared the ball to an alert Barake, who simply poked the ball home from close range.
The visitors restored parity on the stroke of half time after English-Brown turned from hero to villain, turning a Tadiwa Chibunyu cross into his own net after a defensive blunder by the Whawha rearguard.