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Tadious Manyepo-Sports Reporter
TAKESURE Chiragwi is well on his way to landing a substantive coaching post with Premiership football club Ngezi Platinum Stars.
The former CAPS United left-back is currently in interim charge of the Mhondoro miners following the departure of Benjani Mwaruwari two months ago.
Ngezi Platinum Stars have since revealed they will only be looking for a permanent gaffer at the end of the season.
However, The Herald is reliably informed Chiragwi is actually under assessment and should he convince the Ngezi Platinum Stars’ hierarchy, the ex-Shabanie mentor could end up getting the post on a full-time basis. And the diminutive coach has made a case for his consideration so far.
Chiragwi took over from Mwaruwari after a 1-0 defeat to Yadah on July 23.
He has since presided over seven league matches from which he has won five, drawn once and lost once.
For good measure, Chiragwi’s charges beat both Premiership title contenders Chicken Inn (2-1) and Dynamos (1-0) away from home.
He has also seen his boys prevail over Bulawayo Chiefs, Triangle and on Saturday his team scored three goals for the first time since his take-over when walloping relegation-threatened ZPC Kariba 3-0 at Baobab.
All in all, Chiragwi, who is assisted by Kifton Kadurira, has taken charge of the team in eight games, including a Chibuku Super Cup first round defeat to Herentals.
But, it is the way he has steadied a turbulent Ngezi Platinum Stars ship in the league that has left the club’s authorities convinced he could be the right man for the job.
Of course, there are still five games to be played before the curtain comes down on the season but Chiragwi has punched well above his weight.
He has already won more games (five) in seven games, two more than Mwaruwari, who presided over 13 games.
The youthful gaffer has propelled Ngezi Platinum Stars to fourth place on the table with 46 points to their name, seven behind third-placed Dynamos.
And he has also consolidated solidity at the team’s defence which remains third-best in the league, having conceded 18 times and they are only bested by leaders FC Platinum (11 goals conceded) and Dynamos (14).
Nevertheless, Chiragwi is looking at the bigger picture and would rather stay focused.
“Firstly, I would like to thank God for giving us strength. I also want to salute the players for sustaining the momentum we are currently enjoying.
“They believe in their abilities. They are well motivated by the need to keep winning and they are doing it consistently.
“If you win one game, it is a bit easy for you to go into the next game because you would have the motivation to look back from the last result and say we also did it,” said Chiragwi.
“I am happy particularly for the players and the fans as well as everyone involved in this club. We have developed a good mentality whereby when we see that we are dominating we make it count.
“We have no specific message that we are giving to the players. We play football to win and we actually want to win every game so to say.
But it’s a competition, if you play and manage to win, that’s good and you can focus on the next assignment. That is what’s important for us right now. We have said that we just need to finish the season strongly as Ngezi Platinum Stars, that is exactly what we are doing.” Chiragwi’s purple patch will face a stern test at the hands of Harare City at the National Sports Stadium this weekend.
The municipality team are in danger of relegation and their 2-1 win over the in-form Black Rhinos last weekend is a huge motivation ahead of their clash with the Mhondoro team.
Online Reporter