By Tadious Manyepo
Denver Mukamba marked his return to Dynamos with an eye-catching performance that helped the Glamour Boys edge ZPC Kariba in a Castle Lager Premier Soccer League match at Rufaro yesterday.
Emmanuel Mandiranga flicked home a curling Ocean Mushure free-kick for the only goal of the afternoon, nine minutes after the restart, to give DeMbare their first win in the second half of the season.
The Glamour Boys, who took their points-tally to 25 in 21 matches after leapfrogging Bulawayo Chiefs into 12th in the process, were coming from a prolonged three-week break.
This followed the PSL’s decision to shelve their Battle of Zimbabwe showdown against Highlanders.
And coach Lloyd Mutasa threw two of his prodigal sons, Mukamba and Brett Amidu, into the fray along with Mushure who last saw action more than six weeks ago.
His faith in the trio paid dividends as they gave him, and manager Richard Chihoro, perfect birthday presents.
Mutasa turned 51 on Thursday last week while Chihoro celebrated his 62nd birthday yesterday.
Mukamba returned from a brief loan spell at CAPS United after the Green Machine terminated the one-year marriage with the midfielder just halfway through because of the bad boy’s wild behaviour.
He had been forced to join DeMbare’s ultimate rivals by Mutasa after the two had a nasty fall-out during the off-season.
But there was no tension showing between the two yesterday as Mukamba decided to gloss the reunion with his coach with one of his best performance since returning from a stint in South Africa.
The 26-year old was just unfortunate not to cap the good show with a goal, thanks to the Kariba side’s impressive goalkeeper Takabva Mawaya, who incredibly, spread his body to deny the former Bidvest player from point-blank range, seventeen minutes into the game.
The ‘keeper then followed that with an acrobatic save to stop the ex-Warriors man’s angled free-kick 10 minutes later.
Mukamba was initiating all the raids in the guests’ area and it was a combination of Mawaya’s heroics and some blunt shooting that carried the game to the break on level terms.
Premiership’s leading scorer David Temwanjira should also have done justice to some good passes he received in the box towards the end of the first stanza. Mutasa was all praises for Mukamba and hoped the midfielder will concentrate on reviving his career.
“I am quite impressed by how Denver (Mukamba) played. This is our first win in the second half of the season and I am very happy we collected three points although it wasn’t easy,” said Mutasa.
“Denver is a good player and I am convinced that if he concentrates, like what he has been doing over the past weeks, he will be back to his best.
“He played well and I would like to commend my boys for showing character. It’s not easy to handle pressure, especially given that we were coming from a dry spell.
“I would like to salute my boys.
“They knew the manager (Chihoro) and I were celebrating our birthdays and we couldn’t have asked them more than the three points they gave us.’’
ZPC Kariba coach Godfrey Tamirepi said his team lost it when they allowed Dynamos to settle first.
“We allowed Dynamos to settle first and that’s how we lost it. The biggest challenge we had is that we couldn’t actually keep the ball,” said Tamirepi.
“We were too slow and our movement, with and without the ball, was not good enough.
“We were actually fortunate enough to go the break on level terms.
“We lost a bit of concentration when we came back from the break and the goal they (Dynamos) scored was actually soft to me and you know from that moment we never recovered.’’
ZPC Kariba came into yesterday’s match against the back of an impressive 3-1 victory over Triangle at Nyamhunga last week. And Tamirepi said their inconsistency was disappointing.
“This is not good enough, in as far as consistence, is concerned. We are supposed to post good results consistently. It’s quiet disappointing,” he said.
Dynamos goalkeeper Simbarashe Chinani also played his part in helping his team secure the win yesterday.
He denied Munyaradzi Kunyarimwe for what should have been the equalising goal 10 minutes from time. – The Herald
Teams
Dynamos: S Chinani, B. Moyo, P. Makaha, O. . Mushure, M. Machazane, G. Mukambi, G. Saunyama, B. Amidu (J. Tigere, 74th min), Q. Kangadzi (T. Macheke, 59th min) , E. Mandiranga (P. Mutasa, 83rd min), D. Mukamba.
ZPC Kariba: T. Mawaya, B. Mutukure, M. Kunyarimwe, I. Nekati, S. Appiah, T. Munyanduri (F. Zekumbawira. 69th min) , D. Chakupe (T. Chamboko, 61st min) , M. Demera, B. Zuberi, T. Nyamandwe, D. Temwanjira.
