HARARE - Crown troubled forced the abandonment of this Castle Premiership match nine minutes from time after Shabanie fans run amok following two denied goals, which were ruled off side despite being own goals.   

Harare City, despite the poor officiating, put up a vintage performance at the Maglas Stadium.

What was mind boggling was that the two goals that Shabanie were denied were own goals by City defenders Crispen Dickson and Zibusiso Sibanda, with referee Sambulo Dube and his far assistant Ephias Mukombe ruling them out as off-sides.

The decision to deny the second goal sparked a wave of violence, which led to the abandonment of the match.

 “I don’t know if I can call it bad officiating because on both occasions it was Harare City defenders who finished off the goals under pressure,” fumed Shabanie coach Luke Masomere.

“So how can an own goal turn out to be an offside? Maybe it’s us who don’t know the rules of the game. I don’t deny that Harare City had a nice game and had the chance to win the game but it should be done fairly, of course we are a small team with little financial muscle but we also have the right to fair play.”

The visitors were well oiled from the beginning, getting the lead through Osborne Mukuradare in the 28th minute before Pervington Zimunya equalised in the second half.

 Trymore Nyamadzawo and Martin Vengesayi then scored a goal each in the second half to put the game beyond the host’s reach.

Shabanie Mine however, felt hard done by referee Sambulo Dube who denied them two clear goals before and after Pervington Zimunya had levelled the scores in the 47th minute. - Sports Writer