adminRay Bande Senior Sports Reporter
MORALE is at all time low at Mutare City Rovers – the sole Castle Lager Premiership franchise based in the eastern border city – amid stunning revelations that players only got a meagre $10 stipend and 500ml of maheu after the relatively well attended match against Dynamos on Sunday at Sakubva Stadium.
This comes against the backdrop that most of the players were paid a paltry $100 signing on fee at the start of the season at a time when other clubs in the same league that are not so well resourced are paying nothing less than $1 000 in signing on fees for players.
As if that was not enough, administration at Mutare City Rovers seemed to have failed to appreciate the allegiance of their players as well as the clear improvement in their performance when they were made to wait for about four hours after the match against Dynamos on Sunday, only to receive $10 and 500ml of maheu.
City Rovers confirmed that they gave their player $10 and 500ml of maheu.
“It is true. It is a tight situation where we have to balance our desire to take good care of the players as well as meet our financial obligations as a club to other service providers.
“However, this is an issue that we are seized with as an executive and we could come up with something better for the players in the near future,” said Mutare City Rovers publicist, Clayton Masekesa.
It appears the lack of corporate support has left Mutare City Rovers surviving from hand to mouth and this naturally affects the performance on the field of play as much as it also informs the calibre of players that the club can get on the market.
This explains the school of thought that suggests that the club needs to add depth in their squad by securing the services of four or five fine players to beef up the squad and be able to compete favourably in the top flight league.
City Rovers fell to a 0-3 defeat at home against Ngezi Platinum in a season opener before succumbing to an equally humiliating 1-4 defeat at the hands of Harare City away in Harare.
Then it was DeMbare that finally remembered how it feels to win a match at the expence of Gusha when the Harare side laboured long and hard all afternoon to snatch a slender 2-1 triumph at Sakubva Stadium, thanks to goals by former Sodbury School student, Kudzanayi Nyakasaka and Roderick Mutuma.
Refreshingly for City Rovers, Sunday’s encounter saw the hosts improving in performance, albeit failing to find the net, yet creating many scoring opportunities.
Five minutes into the match, Dynamos capitalised on a defensive mishap by dilly-dallying Munyaradzi Sako resulting in exciting Nyakasaka disposing the Mutare City Rovers defender before shoving the ball between Philip Nhete’s legs to propel DeMbare into the lead.
City Rovers had their moments and the hosts could have restored parity 17 minutes into the match when impressive Stephen ‘Dealer’ Sibanda roasted Obey Mwerahari on the right, surged towards goal, but his hard and low shot from a tight angle was well handled by national team goalkeeper Tatenda Mukuruva.
Nonetheless, the self proclaimed Prince of the Glamour Boys made amends and got it right in the 81st minute when he cleverly connected a cross from close range.
Mutare City Rovers then found a face saver well into added time after a goalmouth melee and Kudakwashe Gurure, in his only meaningful contribution in the match, fired home from a rebound.
In a post match interview, Shariwa, the Mutare City Rovers coach, said his team need to overcome the psychological challenge of perceiving themselves as inferior.
“I think we played well and managed to create more scoring opportunities more than Dynamos. We only need to overcome this psychological challenge of perceiving ourselves as inferior.
“We are psychologically de-motivated. Going into the future it is all about working hard.
“We just need to work harder and harder in order to start collecting points and ensure that we survive relegation,” said the former Hartley Academy gaffer.
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