By McGeorge Mbare
West Nicholson 1–2 Vhembe Stars Academy
Dulibadzimu 0-1 Grain Tigers
VHEMBE Stars Academy stunned West Nicholson 2–1 on Wednesday at Phelandaba Stadium on match day 31 , boosting their hopes of escaping relegation.
The Beitbridge side were involved in a tense, do or die, must win fixture as they sought to revive their survival hopes in the Central Region Soccer League Division One.
Vhembe Stars’ Moris Musamba broke the deadlock, raising hopes for his side, before captain Tawanda Chikudza scored the second goal to give Vhembe a 2–0 lead.
West Nicholson found the back of the net in the dying minutes of the game to make it 2–1.
The result saw Vhembe move to 25 points, four points behind MSU, who were held to a 1–1 draw by Gwanda Pirates.
Elsewhere, Dulibadzimu United suffered a narrow 1–0 defeat to Grain Tigers at Dulibadzimu Stadium.
Dulibadzimu started the match by dominating the first 40 minutes of the half, with Lous Matambo, Loyd Madini and Dumisani Ndlovu attempting dangerous crosses into the Tigers’ 18-yard box but no one capitalised on them.
Madini took a brilliant free kick in the 15th minute, but Tigers goalkeeper Allan Masayi handled it with caution.
Matambo also managed to deliver a dangerous cross to Hardlife Ndou, who failed to convert.
The decisive moment came in the 45th minute when Tigers captain Newman Sianchali combined well with Natamati, who broke the deadlock.
It remained the only goal of the match, sealing three points for Grain Tigers.
After the restart, Dulibadzimu United came out all guns blazing, with Reece Mabidi trying his best but unfortunately his efforts were unsuccessful.
Mabidi was substituted for Chifere Bloodly, who is also famously known as Hitler.
Hardlife Ndou was also substituted, with Coffe Tatenda coming on.
These substitutions were clearly intended to change the tempo of the game, but they were unsuccessful.
Dulibadzimu United tried to knock on the Tigers’ door several times in search of an equaliser, but their attempts were cleared by Masayi.
Tamuna Matambanadzo came close to scoring, but he was also denied by Masayi, who made a double save to keep Tigers in the game.
The 1–0 loss saw coach Rutherford Matondo suffer his first home defeat since his second return to the Beitbridge outfit.
Speaking after the match, Tigers coach Noah Mavindi hailed his players for standing firm in a hard fought victory.
“This was a great game, probably one of the toughest games we have played this season. I am very pleased with my boys’ performance. When you really check properly, you will see that our keeper made brilliant saves. It shows that our opponents really needed the points too,” Mavindi said.
The beitbridge duo now prepares for match day 32 ,with Vhembe hosting Gwanda Pirates while Dulis travels to Sabi Gold Mine .
Dulibadzimu now holds half keys for Vhembe ‘s life in the league.
Dulis needs to win against Sabi while Vhembe needs to win against Pirates to reduce the four points gap between Sabi and Vhembe for the Greens to suvive relegation .