By Goodwill Zunidza
Easter Monday of 2025 shall forever remain etched in memory as the most special day for football aficionados in Norton.
That is unless it’s super ceded by another date yet, but almost certain, to come in November this year.
For the first time in the history of Zimbabwe, top-flight football made its grand entry into the small agricultural town of Mashonaland West on 21 April 2025 with the day ending on a victorious note for home side MWOS.
Their scalp was none other than the much-feared Dynamos, Castle Lager Premier Soccer League’s most successful side who fell to a spectacular 0-1 defeat.
The win was the fifth for Lloyd Mutasa’s men who regained their pole position on the league standings before an ecstatic crowd that formed part of the momentous occasion as Ngoni Stadium opened its doors again after a four-month renovation exercise.
Playing their first three home matches at Baobab Stadium in Ngezi, very few expected the Castle Lager Premiership debutants to be anywhere among the top-placed teams especially in the first stages of the season when they should have been still studying the terrain.
MWOS have however defied logic and demonstrated a level of brilliance that has stolen the attention from the league’s more established teams that include Dynamos and Highlanders – both of whom they have already clobbered.
Their stadium-opening triumph over Dynamos was followed by an impressive draw with champions Simba Bhora in Shamva demonstrating that MWOS can be invincible even in away matches.
At the time of writing, with 22 points atop the 18-team league, one ahead of the defending champions, MWOS have forced themselves into reckoning for the title come November . . .aha the afore-mentioned 11th month of the year when the championship race winds up.
It is a not-too-impossible feat if they maintain their consistency.
Evidently, alongside FC Platinum, they are the only teams yet to taste defeat in this year’s super-charged competition after 10 rounds of action, quite a massive achievement for any PSL newcomer.
Mutasa, the unassuming former Tanganda and Dynamos midfield maestro, alludes the brilliant run to faith and teamwork.
“Our team is built on belief and hard work and all players complement each other throughout the game,” the coach intimated in an interview following the second Ngoni PSL tie when they held Manica Diamonds to a 1-1 draw.
Mutasa, who was voted Coach of the Month for April, also had a word for the Norton community which has responded to the brand new offering on their doorstep and packed the municipal stadium, now leased to MWOS, like sardines.
They descend in droves from Norton’s four corners of Katanga, Ngoni, Knowe and Marshlands and always turn the revamped venue into a cauldron of pomp and fanfare.
“I would like to give it to the fans. They are coming out in numbers and we could not have beaten Dynamos without their support.”
Among their fans is Martin “Kanu” Musodza, who works in the Katanga neighbourhood of Norton commuting from nearby Casa compound.
“We call our players The Punters because they can even bet their legs in the field of play. We have utmost confidence in the boys that they will lift the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League championship this very year,” declared Musodza, with his close friend, Tokedz – draped in MWOS’ blue colours – nodding in concurrence.
Top scorer Billy Vheremu, with a return of three goals from nine outings, was at his usual devastating best, probing the Dynamos defence but the statistics fell to Claude Mapoka who banged in the first premiership goal at Ngoni Stadium with a diving header that floored DeMbare.
Salif Cheya’s solitary penalty strike rescued the game against Manica Diamonds.
They have gone on to defeat Chicken Inn 1-0 at Luveve last weekend, their sixth win, before their home date against TelOne in Week 11.
While the frontline carries out its act, many have missed the contribution coming from the defence side of things which has proved fearless and tenacious since the season kicked off.
“Our defence has been amazing and I want to thank the team leadership for responding to our quest for better defenders,” Mutasa chimed.
Anchoring the defence is agile former Spain-based goalkeeper Martin Mapisa, signed from Dynamos this season, and beaten only twice in the MWOS goal.
But it is when one factors in the performance of Malvin Madzuka, Tinotenda Mutyambizi and Matthew Murambiwa in midfield that one can see that MWOS are actually firing from all cylinders.
Victory in the Dynamos encounter came by way of MWOS dominant ball exchanges which saw them force two early corner kicks and caused Dynamos assistant coach Mark Mathe to admit inferiority.
“These guys (MWOS) are dangerous on the wing,” Mathe conceded at the end of the game.
Some say it is early days yet and only the second and decisive half of the season will separate boys from men. But no one can deny that MWOS have fired the first shots.
New Ziana
