Blue army returns

by 30 minutes, but safety concerns continued to stalk their tie against in-form Gunners at Larfarge on Sunday.
There has been a surge in the number of fans coming to watch DeMbare’s league matches – with interest sparked by a run of good results under a new technical team – which has revived hopes for the league title.
The Glamour Boys are now five points adrift of the leading teams in the race for the title.

On Sunday, Dynamos delayed their home match against Masvingo by 30 minutes to allow thousands of fans, trapped outside Rufaro, to gain entrance into the ground.
DeMbare’s game against Shooting Stars had attracted 7 900 fans at Rufaro while the match against Chicken Inn saw 6 036 paying their way into the Mbare ground.
On Sunday, Dynamos’ fans passed the 10 000 mark for the first time in many months.
PSL chief executive, Kenny Ndebele, yesterday said a 30-minute delay, in an effort to help in crowd control, was allowed within the statutes governing world football.

Ndebele said the league’s fathers would work with Dynamos to help them deal with big crowds at their home games.
The Glamour Boys will play Gunners at Lafarge on Sunday and the PSL are already engaging Chando Kupisa on managing the expected huge crowd.
The little stadium has a carrying capacity of about 10 000 people.

Moses “Bambo” Chunga’s Gunners is still unbeaten since the Dynamos legend re-joined them while DeMbare title hopes were brightened when they slashed the gap.
The match is likely to attract an even a bigger crowd than those who paid to watch the match against the Chinda Boys on Sunday.
“It is within the Fifa regulations for the match commissioner or referee to stop play or start to restore order,” said Ndebele.

“But that does not absolve us as the league. We need to make sure that we also assist them by introducing advance tickets and opening of all gates and also having fans coming early to matches.”
The PSL chief executive said there has been a surge in the number of fans coming to watch DeMbare matches and they would meet with the club’s management so that what happened on Sunday would not be repeated.

On having the weekend’s match at Lafarge, Ndebele said they would have an assessment of the entry points at that stadium.
“Gunners have already started the marketing of the game which would be played at Lafarge.

“We need to look at the entrance points and make a careful assessment.
“The problem is that Gunners are leasing the stadium and so their argument is that they cannot only play there, when it is just the small teams, and then move back to Rufaro when they have big matches.

“Lafarge can accommodate 10 000 people and should be able to stage a match of this magnitude.
“We will discuss with Gunners and see what is the way forward,” said Ndebele.
Gunners also have favourable levies, which they pay to the owners of the stadium, which will make staging the big game at Lafarge more profitable to them than taking it to Rufaro.

By playing at Rufaro, Gunners would have to pay 20 percent of gross gate-takings to the Harare City Council, which would severely erode their income.
Dynamos’ assistant coach Tonderai Ndiraya insisted yesterday that it was still too early for his side to start aiming for the championship but maintained that it wasn’t a bad dream either.

Motor Action and the expensively-assembled FC Platinum slugged each other to a 0-0 draw at Mandava and the result was sweet music to DeMbare who were only team in the top six to manage a victory.

Goals from Denver Mukamba and Cuthbert Malajila helped Dynamos to victory but Ndiraya said they were not talking about gunning for the title just yet.
“There is still 27 points for us to play for in the league,” said Ndiraya.

“We are not talking about the championship yet but we are taking each game as it comes
“We just want to get maximum points and take it from there.

“We hope to continue with the same form and perhaps we could then come very close to the leaders and who does not want the championship?”
Shabanie might have lost on Sunday but they exhibited an attractive brand of passing football that could handy in their bid to survive the chop.

Motor Action also had reason to hold their heads high after getting a priceless point at Mandava.
Before the game, Mighty Bulls manager Joey Antipas had predicted a close encounter that he said would foretell the destiny of the championship.

Antipas said was it was going to be a bonus if Motor Action were to win in Zvishavane.
There was no joy for CAPS United at Hwange when they lost 1-0 at the Colliery on Sunday.

The Green Machine also lost striker Leonard Tsipa who had to be ferried to hospital after concussion following a nasty clash with a Chipangano player.
Tsipa, was however, discharged on Sunday and returned with his teammates to the capital.