Junior Makunike played a starring role as champions Simba Bhora came from behind to thrash Manica Diamonds in a thriller at Wadzanayi Stadium yesterday.
The midfielder netted a brace as the Shamva -based team produced arguably their best performance of the season so far.
Makunike thought he had grabbed a hatrick in the second half but the goal was disallowed after being flagged offside.
Charles Teguru gave the visitors a 21st minute lead after he was teed up by Brett Amidu, but a Makunike miscued left footed shot on 25th minute somehow found the back of the net.
His exquisite second goal on the stroke of halftime thrust the hosts in front.
Simba Bhora got the ideal start to the second half when Namibian striker Isakar Gurirab riffled into the roof of the net on 48th minute.
Two minutes later, Tinotenda Meke made it four after finishing off a brilliant team goal before Makunike was denied his hatrick moments later.
The fourth goal was historic for Simba Bhora, as it was the first time that the team had scored four goals in the league since their promotion.
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Victory took the defending champions to second place on the log with 11 points, two behind Ngezi Platinum Stars who were floored by TelOne yesterday.
For Manica Diamonds, they remain on 10 points after yet another chastening result on the road where they are yet to win a game away this term. The Jairosi Tapera coached team have won all their home games so far.
Victorious coach Joel Luphahla said his boys' hard work was starting to pay off.
"I'm happy for the players because when you play and you don't convert the chances, it's disheartening, especially to the players. But I'm happy today that the hard work that they've been putting in the previous five games is being seen," Luphahla said.
"These boys train very hard and when the goals don't come, sometimes you can see that it's frustrating to them. But I'm happy that today we were lucky that the chances that we got, we managed to put them away."
Tapera was short of words on why his side just collapsed in the second half after a good start to the game.
"I think in the first 20 minutes we were so much organised, we played excellently well," Tapera said.
"But when we started the second half, we just collapsed. They scored two identical goals, from the right cross which they managed to finish. Those are mistakes that we can take home and sit down and say, what should we do? We haven't lost as Manica Diamonds by more than two goals ever since we joined. This is a very heavy loss to take. We take it as a lesson and we go forward, sit down and reorganise ourselves."
Simba Bhora made the brighter start but found themselves behind when, following a sweeping move, Teguru tucked away Amidu's through pass at the far post.
The lead lasted just four minutes as Makunike's hopeful left footed grounder took an awkward bump on an uneven pitch to bounce over the diving keeper .
Makunike completed the turnaround on the stroke of halftime.
If his first goal looked a fluke, then his second was a beautiful piece of art. The former Dynamos star started the attack in midfield, spreading the ball wide to the roving Roland Kangadzi who crossed the ball into the danger area.
Makunike expertly took down the high cross, lofted over a challenger before firing home for a truly beautiful goal
Gurirab rifflled into the roof of the net, connecting a cross from Carlos Mavhurume after some good work by Tinotenda Meke.
But they were not done there.
Meke latched onto an Emmanuel Ziocha pass on the far post to add further gloss on the scoreline , finishing off a flowing team move that also involved Makunike and Gurirab.
Luphahla, perhaps with one eye on the Uhuru Super Cup final against Fc Platinum on Friday, made sweeping substitutions just after the hour mark and his team slowed down the tempo.
