ZVISHAVANE - ZPC Kariba added to Shabanie Mine’s growing relegation woes as they registered a vital away 1-0 win in yesterday’s Castle Lager Premiership match at Maglas Stadium.
The visitors’ midfielder Talent Chamboko scored the only goal of the game just before halftime that condemned Shabanie to their fourth defeat on the trot.
Shabanie are now in deep trouble as they dropped into the relegation zone as the poor run leaves them with 22 points from the same number of matches.
With a lean squad and well-documented financial problems, the Chinda Boys are now increasingly looking like they will go down at the end of the season despite a promising start to the season.
The Zvishavane-based outfit started off their campaign with a draw against defending champions CAPS United before going on to shock Bulawayo giants Highlanders in their own backyard.
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But all that promise is going up in smoke, unless they drastically find the winning formula again.
Yesterday’s win saw ZPC Kariba increase their tally to 35 points and move into fifth place on the log.
The match began with Shabanie on the back foot as they conceded too many free kicks in dangerous areas but they were spared by the visitors’ poor execution at set pieces.
Young Denzel Taderera was particularly jittery in the Shabanie defence but he could be forgiven as he is only 19.
It took half an hour for the Chinda Boys to begin clawing back into the game with more meaningful forays into ZPC Kariba territory.
However, with the match heading for the break with the scores level, Chamboko finally punished the Shabanie sloppy defending to give his side the lead.
In the second period, Shabanie returned a bit more purposeful but they still could not find a way through the ZPC defence.
After weathering the early pressure from the home side in the second period, ZPC Kariba regained control of the game.
In a surprising move, the Shabanie technical team withdrew second half substitute Richard Kawondera less than 10 minutes after coming on to replace him with Fradreck Muza.
ZPC Kariba could have doubled their advantage in the 72nd minute only for Raphael Manuvire’s strike to hit the upright with Shabanie goalkeeper Petros Moyo well-beaten.
The visitors then closed shop in the dying minutes of the game and were lucky to survive a sustained onslaught on their goal from the home side.
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