‘Arenel have arsenal to survive’

Veronica Gwaze

Sports Reporter

STRUGGLING Castle Lager Premier Soccer League debutants Arenel Movers’ chances of surviving in the top-flight may appear thin, but head coach Farai Tawachera is unfazed. 

As the Premiership marathon resumes after a mid-season break, Arenel find themselves sitting at the bottom on the 18-team log table with a paltry 11 points from 17 games. 

The Bulawayo outfit managed just a solitary win, eight draws while the other matches ended in defeat in the first half. 

Their only victory (2-1) came earlier in April, against fellow new boys, Bikita Minerals at Luveve. 

Despite the gloomy picture, Tawachera feels that he has the arsenal and adequate time to turn around the team’s fortunes. 

“To see an improved Arenel is possible, I believe these same old faces that seemed to struggle in the first half have what it takes to turn this into a different story,” he said. 

“I am not panicking because I have been there and I know how fast things can change. 

“My message to the boys remains that we are still in a good space to change things.” 

The “Sweet Boys” are also the least scoring team with a lousy eight goals while they have conceded 21 times. Log leaders FC Platinum top the scoring chart with 24 goals and have let in 11. Tawachera revealed that part of the team’s predicament has been compounded by a chaotic boardroom. Boardroom issues resulted in the team failing to camp ahead of their fixtures on several occasions. 

In some cases, the debutants would travel late for away games, which impacted negatively players’ performances. 

The team was also not sparred in going for weeks without salaries, bonuses, and allowances, which resulted in industrial action by players, days before their match against FC Platinum. 

All this, said Tawachera, affected his boys negatively. 

“If they could be allowed to focus on football without all these other issues, we would have not been where we are right now. 

“The burden is too much. There are some games that I feel sorry for these boys noting how much effort they put into it for nothing in return. 

“They try so much, under difficult circumstances and we need to put our house in order and make the boys happy to enjoy the game.”

While other teams are capitalising on the mid-season transfer window to bolster their teams, Tawachera is yet to get a nod from his employers to add depth.

The ex-Bulawayo Chiefs coach said there was need for them to boost their attacking department.

“If things go well, we will bring in new faces, but for now there is nothing solid that we can talk about.