By Eddie Chikamhi
Dynamos ……………………………………….(1) 3
Shabanie Mine ……………………………….(0) 3
Dynamos’ experienced a bitter Castle Lager Premiership homecoming show at Rufaro yesterday after the Glamour Boys sensationally collapsed and gave away what seemed a healthy three-goal advantage to settle for a share of the spoils in a six-goal thriller against a determined Shabanie Mine.
The Harare giants’ youth brigade failed to defend their fort in the last 25 minutes of the game after Valentine Kadonzvo, Kudzanai Dhemere and Quality Kangadze had given them a 3-0 advantage.
Midway through the second half, it had looked like it had been done and dusted and Dynamos appeared to have found just the strong response they needed after suffering a 1-0 reverse to Chicken Inn in their 2018 season opener in Bulawayo last weekend.
But joy soon turned to anguish for the DeMbare fans as their team were in the end forced to actually scramble for the draw as Shabanie finished the stronger of the two sides.
Shabanie Mine rallied back courtesy of a double strike from David Temwanjira and former DeMbare man Richard Kawondera with the Chinda Boys’ marksmen finding the target inside a 13-minute spell.
For the Dynamos faithful, it was a painful reminder of a similar capitulation against CAPS United at the National Sports Stadium two years ago when they conceded three goals in the last five minutes of the Harare Derby which ended 3-3.
Stand-in Dynamos coach Biggie Zuze attributed the collapse to poor defending.
“I think there was a bit of relaxing. We relaxed a lot especially in our defending. You could see we could lose the ball (unnecessarily) and we were also not tracking well especially in the dying stages of the game.
“Shabanie capitalised on that and they scored their goals. Of course, as coaches we take responsibility for the result but the certain thing that we just failed to do was the defending.
“I think we had a very senior back four excluding the youngster at our left-back. All these goals came from the centre and I think it’s just bad defending,” said Zuze, who directed operations on the bench in the absence of head coach Lloyd Mutasa.
Mutasa is away with the Warriors who travelled to Ndola, Zambia for a Four-nation Invitational tournament.
Exciting winger Kadonzvo gave De- Mbare the advantage their early adventure deserved when he ghosted in from the back post and latched on to a high ball from right back Blessing Moyo with 30 minutes played.
But there were chances for both sides with Raphael Manuvire in good form. Earlier on the midfielder had produced one clever chip over the defenders to release Kangadze, who somehow dragged his shot wide when coming face to face with the goalkeeper Petros Moyo.
Shabanie looked comfortable on the ball and they also had their chances in the first half with two-goal hero Temwanjira and Macdonald Makuwe, son of former Hwange and DeMbare winger Joseph Makuwe coming close.
But DeMbare doubled their tally thanks to a fine finish from Dhemere who tapped in from the middle following some spirited running by Kangadze on the right flank.
Shabanie Mine found themselves in further trouble when Kangadze finished off the move he started after the exposed visitors’ goalkeeper spilled his long range shot at the hour mark.
Kangadze burst into the box to unleash a rising shot after the ’keeper had also denied Manuvire from the rebound.
But Shabanie Mine never threw in the towel and their young coach Takesure Chiragwi opted for an aggressive game by buttressing his attack through the introduction of Carlos Rusere, Kawondera and Kibaki Dhlamini in the second half.
Rusere, another former Dynamos player, crashed his effort against the upright when he rushed in to meet Tinashe Mupumha’s shot which rolled across the face of goal.
Temwanjira then got one back when he headed in from a corner kick in the 68th minute before Kawondera, a late second half substitute, further reduced the arrears with a well-executed shot after DeMbare defenders were beaten by a flicked ball.
Temwanjira returned to inflict pain on DeMbare with a grounder into the far corner after he benefited from poor marking.
Chiragwi was naturally excited by the great escape and crucially the point on the road against one of the domestic giants.
“We were in control of the game. It’s just the mistakes we had conceded three, especially on the right flank where our defender was not in the right position in terms of principles of defending. But that’s one thing we can correct, it’s normal in football.
“But in terms performance, starting from the word go, we did very well. That’s the reason we came back and scored three goals. It’s only those chances they created and they scored.
“I told my players don’t change the way you were playing. It’s normal to concede goals but the most important thing is to play the way you train and I am happy they did exactly what we do at training and it gave us a result. So we are happy for that,” said Chiragwi.
Shabanie Mine now have four points while Dynamos are on one after two games.
Teams:
Dynamos: B. Mwandimutsira, B. Moyo, R. Matova, J. Tigere, M. Machazane, J. Marufu, K. Dhemere (O. Mwerahari, 84th min), C. Kapupurika, R. Manuvire, V. Kadonzvo (V. Ndaba, 59th min), Q. Kangadze (K. Kumwala, 83rd min)
Shabanie: P. Moyo, L. Manyande (R. Kawondera, 68th min), A. Maliselo, N. Mpofu, J. Nyabinde, T. Chigede, T. Ajana, M. Makuwe (C. Rusere, 53rd min), T. Mupumha, D. Temwanjira, A. Kambanje (73rd min) The Herald
