HARARE - CAPS United midfielder Hardlife Zvirekwi was left to reflect hard on the repercussion of his Christian name after a pre-season bust-up with FC Platinum marshals in Zvishavane last weekend.

 The small mining town of Zvishavane played host to the four-team NetOne Charity Shield tournament at Mandava Stadium last weekend, won by Chicken Inn following their 3-2 win in the final over United.

 The Green Machine announced their arrival at Mandava by jumping over the pitch-side perimeter fence to gain entrance into the stadium ahead of their warm-up for their match oagainst Platinum on Saturday.  

This happened a few minutes before the first match pitting Chicken Inn and Monomotapa had ended. The Gamecocks beat Monomotapa 2-1 in the first semi-final.

 CAPS United, clad in their famous green and white stripe and the orange NetOne T-shirts on top of their jerseys, followed one after the other over the perimeter fence amid applauses from the appreciating fans but much to the chagrin of the FC Platinum marshals manning the entrance.

In Zimbabwean football, teams avoid using designated entrances in apparent belief that it minimize the effect of Juju by the host team.

However, luck ran out on Zvirekwi, who was manhandled by the overzealous bouncers who started assaulting the midfielder relentlessly.

But just like the little wrestler Ray Mysterio, Zvirekwi surprised many by retaliating, pushing and shoving the bouncers before being escorted to the changing room by equally charged teammates.

 But after this incident, it was CAPS and Zvirekwi who had the last laugh after booking their place in the Charity Shield final courtesy of a 5-4 penalty shoot-out victory over FC Platinum.

The match had ended one-all in regulation time.

 “They were desperate for mind games by employing dirty tactics on us in order to frustrate us,” Zvirekwi told the Daily News on Sunday after the game.

 “It certainly affected us as we conceded an early goal because some of the guys in the team couldn’t deal with the trauma. Their marshals were closing all the entrances to the stadium, we wanted to do our warm-up and they couldn’t allow us in so we looked for an alternative .”