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Tadious Manyepo, Sports Reporter
PHENEAS Bamusi wants to quickly forget the events of the 2023 Premiership season when he endured one of the worst terms in his football career spanning over a decade.
The usually razor-sharp winger was a pale shadow of the silky player who helped the Green Machine to the league title in 2016 and Triangle to the Chibuku Super Cup glory two years later.
The CAPS United forward failed to register his name on the scoresheet for the first time in the entire season since introducing himself in the scene with Buffaloes more than 10 years ago.
So bad was the situation that Bamusi announced that he was leaving Makepekepe at the end of last year before he was convinced by those he trusts to stick around.
And his preoccupation going into the new season is to right his wrongs from last year.
“Basically I want to do better than what I did last season going into the new term. I think 2023 was my worst season since I started playing football.
“I hardly managed to significantly contribute to the good of my team. It was very tough for me seeing the fans yelling to see what I usually give them,” said Bamusi.
“I really felt sorry for them. At first I was a bit cool and patient thinking that I would eventually raise the bar and start scoring and assisting my teammates.”
Bamusi said he was trying too hard and that could be the reason why the touch always eluded him.
“But as time moved on, it became a matter of me trying too hard to be able to really assert myself in the game. I became desperate and then lost the plot. At the end of the season, I started to consider leaving the team. I thought I had disappointed the fans enough and I needed to go elsewhere,” he said.
“But I would like to thank my teammates and coach Lloyd Chitembwe who have always backed me. They stood with me even when the chips were down. They are the ones who also advised me to be a little bit patient and hang on at the team.
“I understood that barren years are common in football and it’s part of the game.
“So going into the 2024 season, I have renewed confidence that I will be firing and doing what I know best.”
Makepekepe have made positive strides in the market bringing a mixture of youth and experience and the Lloyd Chitembwe charges are being touted as one of the favourites to fight for the honours this coming season.
Bamusi agrees but acknowledges that the team will have to be at their best to really compete against equally strong rivals like Ngezi Platinum, Simba Bhora, Manica Diamonds, Chicken Inn and Dynamos.
“We are CAPS United, a football giant in the local scene and we should challenge for every cup played on land. We have disappointed our fans for too long. We last won silverware in 2016 and that’s a long time ago. We are out to fight for the badge and see to it that we win silverware.
“The good thing is that we managed to remain intact, with most of the players we had last season still around. We know each other very well and that’s an advantage for the team.
“We are out to compete and try to win silverware this season. We will play for the fans. We know there are so many teams who have strengthened their squads just like us. They will be gunning for silverware as well and we need to be at our best.”
CAPS United open their campaign against Chicken Inn at home this weekend
Online Reporter