The ManicaPost
Ray Bande and Moffat Mungazi
Bikita Minerals………………………………..(0) 1
Yadah FC………………………………………….(0) 1
THE hugely anticipated Castle Lager Premiership match between Bikita Minerals and Yadah Stars produced no winner after the two teams settled for a one-all draw in an entertaining duel at Sakubva Stadium this afternoon.
All eyes were on the Lithium Boys to see how they would kick off their debut campaign in the top-flight-league following the boardroom decision to promote them, while the spotlight was also on former Warriors talisman Khama Billiat who was making his first start for the Miracles Boys after having last played in the domestic Premiership in 2010.
Despite some entertaining action in the opening half, the teams went into the break goalless as they both failed to find the target.
Hosts Bikita Minerals returned from the breather the better side as they kept probing their opponents’ goal area.
They were duly rewarded in the 66th minute when Evans katema lurched onto a rebound in the box to fire home a blistering shot that hit the roof of the net.
However, the Lithum Boys sent other good scoring opportunities begging.
Yadah Stars stayed on the hunt for an equaliser, with the highly-rated Billiat – who was below par for the entire 95 minutes he was on the pitch – directing two set pieces as well as a hard-and-low effort wide of the mark.
He is yet to open his goal-scoring account after two matches in this campaign.
No wonder in a post-match interview Bikita Minerals coach Saul Chaminuka boasted that he actually had instructed his players never to treat him with too much respect.
“Khama Billiat is just like any other human being or player with two legs and two hands. You saw that he was just ordinary and I think the message I drove home to my players that they should just treat him like all the other players worked out well for us,” Chaminuka said.
Billiat turned down a request for a post-match interview.
As the match approached full-time, a last-minute own goal by Carlton Munzabwa in a goalmouth melee salvaged a point for the Miracles Boys in the tightly contested encounter.
Yadah Stars coach Thomas Ruzive, who was forced to make the maximum five substitutions, expressed satisfaction with how his charges played.
“I cannot really complain about our performance as a team. Yes, with a little bit of luck we could have walked away with maximum points but that is the nature of the game of football. For the substitutes, I was trying to bring in some energy by fielding those youngsters in the second half and it is unfortunate that we could not get a goal earlier than we did,” he said.
The game kicked off 28 minutes late as the home team – Bikita Minerals – did not have their player licenses which were said to be on their away from the capital and the match officials had to take images of each player for the match to start.
