Maweja Takers secured a place in the final of the Amos Shield Charity Tournament by narrowly beating Tshakhuma Peace Lovers 1-0 at the Tshakhuma Mulangaphuma Stadium on Saturday.

Peace Lovers played the full game with only 10 men, due to the unavailability of the other players. They managed, however, to match Maweja pound for pound for the whole match. The absence of the Lovers’ left-footed striker, Zwanga Muvhango, was evident from the start. Muvhango watched the game from the touchline as he was still serving a suspension after seeing red in their game against FC KK at the Malaria grounds two weeks ago.

Dakalo Mudau of Peace Lovers was booked in the 14th minute. He was tackled the rough way, but the referee chose not to reprimand the culprit. The referee’s decision did not go down well with Mudau and he started to accuse the referee of favoritism. Realizing that Mudau would not stop pointing fingers at him, the referee showed him yellow.

Maweja effected the first change to their starting line-up nine minutes before the break. They introduced Mashudu Makhari at the expense of Khuthadzo Munyai. Takers’ sharpshooter, Zwivhuya Tshisaphungo, could not live up to his reputation, because the defenders were all over him.

Pressure mounted on Lovers’ defence with time. Maweja replaced Khumbudzo Muvhango with Ipfi Muthubi. Muthubi missed a fortune three minutes after his introduction. His header from close range went wide.

The goal which separated the boys from the men came in the 78th minute. Walter Netshimbulu scored with a header after a corner kick that was taken by Morgan Makhuvha.