BY BHEKIMPILO WEZA
Dragons Football Club beat Lupinyo Bullets 5-3 after penalties to lift the Chidobe Kachecheti Football League’s Defence Forces Day soccer competition in an exciting final played before a full house at Sinyore Stadium.
The competition kicked off on Saturday with all nine league teams battling for top honours in a lucrative soccer tournament ever to be hosted by a social league.
Sponsored to the tune of US$ 1000, the Defence Forces day trophy is the first cup to be played at CKF and is sponsored by a Victoria Falls business man Christopher Ndiweni, a war veteran.
Dragons, who topped Group A after beating Ajax 1-0, and Legends 9-0 before settling for a draw with Zamalek to qualify with seven points.
They qualified ahead of second placed Zamalek, who also made it into the semi-finals in second spot with five points.
Zamalek on their part defeated the Legends 5-1ve goals to one, held Ajax and Dragons as well to a similar 1-1 to set a date with Lupinyo Bullets in the semi-finals.
In the semi-finals, Lupinyo Bullets beat Zamalek with a single strike from Tiro Ncube before Dragons made easy work of struggling Masters, beating them 1-0 to set a final with Lupinyo Bullets.
As was expected, the final had all the ingredients of a soccer match with action swinging from one end to the other.
Dragons almost took the lead 13 minutes into the game, but a header from Mqabuko Ndlovu hit the upright with Daniel Ngwenya in goals for Lupinyo.
Ten minutes later it was Lupinyo Bullets’ turn, but Tirol Ncube blazed his effort over the bar, thanks to a well-executed free kick by Mthokozisi Sibanda after Khulumani Mathe was hacked outside the box.
Dragons kept on probing from all angles in search of the goal, but Lupinyo Bullets denied them the chance to take the lead and it was 0-0 going into the breather.
The introduction of Precious Ncube for the injured Lizwe Ncube almost brought life into the game with the youngster giving more life to the game with his sublime skills and deft touches.
Sixty nine minutes into the match Dragon almost went ahead courtesy of Simanga Ncube, but his shot was marred for a corner by an alert Lupinyo Bullets goal minder Daniel Ngwenya.
Lupinyo could have won the match when the referee Jabulani Mahlangu awarded them a free kick with five minutes to go, but William Sibanda shot hit the Dragon wall.
With both sides failing to find the net, it was now left for the penalties to decide the winner with Dragon scoring all their spot kicks from Lot Ndlovu, Mqabuko Ndlovu, Sibanda Ncube and Silent Dube while Khulumani Mathe missed for Lupinyo Bullets.
The match itself was a good game according to Lupinyo coach Vusa Nyoni
“We had a fantastic match but penalties,” Nyoni said.
“We always have those problems, but we are happy with the results.”
For Dragons, it was a dream come true for coach Lot Ndlovu who criticiszed his players for not winning it during the 90 minutes.
Dragons received US$ 250 with Lupinyo Bullets receiving US$200 while third placed Masters went away with US$120 and Zamalek who finished fourth took home US$80.
The other teams received US$50.