BRUCE IS KING

Grace Chingoma and Tedious Manyepo
VERSATILE Highlanders man Bruce Kangwa has underlined his growing stock in the domestic game and yesterday capped a blistering start to the season by being named the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League’s best player for the last three successive months.

Kangwa, who flew to Tanzania yesterday for a two-week trial stint with that country’s top-flight side Azam FC, is also leading the Premiership’s goal-scoring charts with seven goals going into the mid-season break.

The Warriors left-back-turned-winger has now equalled Charles Sibanda’s record for three consecutive monthly PSL accolades after the 2010 Soccer Star of the Year achieved the rare feat when he won the awards for June, July and August of 2014 while he was still playing for Bosso.

Kangwa has been enjoying a purple patch since the start of the year and has been the driving force behind Highlanders’ ascendency to the top of the Premiership log standings.

The winger is also one of a few local players who have managed to get regular call-ups to the Warriors African Cup of Nations squad, where he is mostly cover for Onismor Bhasera.

As he left to try new pastures at Azam, Kangwa was on a high after a panel of selectors that also include various club captains voted him this season’s best player for April, May and June.

Kangwa, speaking from Tanzania last night, attributed his success to his teammates, Highlanders supporters and his family.

“I am elated by the recognition which the PSL has shown me. It is good to do what one loves doing and in the process get recognised for that.

“I would like to thank my coach, teammates, fans and my family as it is their combined efforts which spur me on. I salute them,” Kangwa said.

Although Kangwa has been with Highlanders for more than four years, he is having the best season of his Bosso career under Dutchman Elroy Akbay.

Only last Sunday, Kangwa scored his seventh goal of the season as Bosso subdued battling CAPS United 1-0 in a Battle of the Cities clash at Barbourfields.

Akbay, who has also been charmed by Kangwa’s game, reckoned that his player was full value for the awards.

“I don’t have any idea as to which other player in the league is currently playing better than Bruce.

“He is a star, he likes to play football that is why I changed him from being a defender to a striker. He certainly deserves the awards,” he said.

Akbay, however, is worried about Kangwa’s imminent departure to Azam, which he fears could hamper Highlanders’ campaign.

The Dutch coach said he was yet to identify a player in Zimbabwe who could fill Kangwa’s void at Highlanders.

“I am certainly worried about Bruce’s imminent departure. He had proven to be the match winner for my team. Of course we play as a team but one thing for certain, Bruce is the cog.

“We do not stand in his way but it will be a daunting task to look for someone who can actually replace him. He is a special player,” Akbay said.

The monthly PSL awards are voted for by selected members of the media, top-flight coaches and club captains. The selection panel also chooses the league’s best coach for the month and they picked FC Platinum’s Norman Mapeza, Akbay and Lloyd Mutasa of Dynamos as the top coaches for April, May and June respectively.

Mutasa has revived Dynamos ever since he took full charge of the Harare giants after their near-fatal experiment with little known Portuguese coach Paulo Jorge Silva.

Although he has been rewarded for bringing Dynamos back into the championship reckoning, Mutasa yesterday said he was concerned with his team’s lack of fire power.

As the Premiership takes a two-week break, the Dynamos coach said he wants his players to reflect on their sterility in front of goal and challenged the entire team to take responsibility for scoring.

Dynamos are fourth on the log with 25 points, five behind pacesetters Highlanders.

But it is Dynamos’ deficiencies in front of goal that is worrying Mutasa who has also seen his side fail to score in their last two assignments.

The DeMbare coach said he would work hard to ensure his team remains in shape during the recess.

Mutasa gave his players a two-day rest from training on Monday and yesterday and they will resume business this morning.

The former WhaWha mentor said in as much as he would be beefing up his squad during the mid-season transfer season with one or two finishers, he wanted everyone, who would have been chosen to play to take the responsibility to score goals.

“We started the season very slowly but we ended up stronger. It was very fair on our part if you look at the last seven games minus the very last two matches, creativity was there, but the last two games showed that we are still lagging behind.

“We were not beaten and had many clean sheets. It means we are good defensively so we have to maintain that and improve on the attacking part. We will go back to the drawing board and work on that.

“We might be able to add one or two players in that department though we cannot divulge the names at the moment until we have finalised all the paper work.

“But we would like to enhance our creativity, instill an element in players that not only outright strikers should score but everyone must take responsibility,” Mutasa said.

Dynamos are looking to add five new players before the end of this month to replace a similar number that was offloaded.

The Harare giants released Richard Kawondera, Farai Mupasiri, Evans Gwekwerere, Kelvin Bulaji and Jimmy Dzingai.

“Already we have signed Denver (Mukamba), from the five that we pushed out, so we are looking at another three to four players.

“Other players we have them in our sleeves but need to tie them down first before we can say the names.

“We are also looking at finalising with Wisdom (Mutasa) and his club Aces Youth Academy by end of week. We have been engaged in some meetings and it’s looking positive’’.

Now in his second spell as Dynamos coach, Mutasa said he is optimistic of a better showing in the second half of the season compared to their poor start.

“As Dynamos we cannot cry over spilt milk but we have to look forward, take each game as it comes and see where we end up at.

“There are a number of teams on top of us and destiny is not in our hands. But we are also not thinking about the league race at the moment but rather how we can collect as many points as we can.

“We know the season will be tough in the second half but we can only do what we can manage to do and see how far it takes us,” said Mutasa.