Buluni Happy Boys booked a place in the semifinal stage of the Boy Nemakonde KO Competition by beating Nduvheni FC 5-3 at the Tshifudi Stadium on Saturday.
The game was played under protest. Nduvheni FC lodged a protest with the referee before the kickoff. Nduvheni's protest was about one of the Happy Boys' players, whom they alleged was not properly registered.
Happy Boys approached the game aggressively, with their strikers forcing the defenders of Nduvheni to perform overtime duty. They came close to scoring thrice in a row within a short space of time. Unarine Nengudza went loose from the left corner and unleashed a half volley from the edge of the box. The ball hit the side net and bounced outside the field of play for a goal kick.
Mashudu was unlucky moments later. He received a neat pass from Elijah Simba and hesitated for far too long to unleash within the box until he lost possession.
Happy Boys took the lead in the 26th minute. Vhutshilo Mugwabane tried his luck with a ground cutter from outside the box. A defender of Nduvheni deflected the ball back into his own net in a bid to clear.
Nduvheni gained momentum with time. They found the equalizer nine minutes before the break. Their overlapping midfielder, Ndamulelo Gumbu, was brought down within the box. That prompted the referee to award a penalty to Nduvheni. Murendeni Thanyani made no mistake from the white spot.
Midiaifiani Mutwanamba of Happy Boys was warned with a card for dangerous play late in the game.
The winner was determined through penalty shootout as the full-time score was 1-1. Happy Boys converted four through Mashudu Munyai, Unarine Nengudza, Ndaedzo Simba and Elijah Simba, while Nduvheni scored only two from the penalty spot.