BULAWAYO - Castle Premiership returnees Bantu Rovers got their first win of the season after shocking their How Mine 3-1 in a Bulawayo derby here on Saturday.
The Methembe Ndlovu-coached side showed determination from the onset and were deserving winners as the goal miners finished with 10 men after Morris Kadzola sent off for a second yellow in the 81st minute.
Bantu took the lead 16 minutes into the game through their captain Nqobizitha Masuku after he got at the end of a good pass from man-of the-match Fortune Ncube inside the box.
Tshintsha Guluva increased their lead in the 30th minute when How Mine defender Nyasha Mukumbi scored an own goal.
Mukumbi beat his goalkeeper Donovan Bernard as he tried to cut out a cross from the impressive Ncube.
The How Mine technical department then decided to bring in Timothy January for the less effective Heritain Masuku shortly after that goal.
The move paid off as January pulled one goal back for the gold miners with a tap in from a Thembani Masuku cross.
How Mine should have equalised in the 55th minute when hard running Benjamin Marere beat Zephania Ngodzo on the right flank.
Marere missed the target by a few inches as Bantu goalie Brighton Chipula come out to narrow the angle.
At that point, How Mine were now in control of the game as they looked dangerous with each attack they made.
Bantu took advantage of the How Mine pressure and quickly attacked on the counter with substitute Moses Majika.
Majika released Lawson Nkomo on the right and the full back released a scorcher just outside the box that beat Bernard.
Thereafter Bantu defended gallantly all the attacks from How Mine and the goal miners’ task was made hard when Kadzola recived his second caution after a late tackle on Ngodzo.
The Bantu defender made the most out of the tackle.
After the match, How Mine coach Philani Ncube praised Bantu for their determination.
“We lost to a determined team. Its congratulations to Bantu and back to the drawing board for How Mine,” said Ncube.
Bantu assistant coach Mandla Moyo said the match was easy for them.
“It was an easy match for us, the derby is for players and today our team came right”, Mpofu said.
Teams:
How Mine: B Donovan, M Kadzola, T Majo, N Mukumbi, G Banda, X Moyo, H Masuku (T January 33mins), M Mupera, B Marere, G Nguwodzawo (E Muzanenhamo 52mins), Thembani Masuku (F Chirinda 76mins).
Banyu Rovers: B Chipula, Z Ngodzo, E Tshuma, N Masuku, L Nkomo, T Kutinyu, E Dube, B Sibanda (M Majika 55mins), P Zireni, F Ncube (T Magaisa 90mins), Siza Dube (O Tarumbwa 64mins).