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Takudzwa Chitsiga Sports Reporter
CRANBORNE Bullets players yesterday underwent medical tests ahead of the 2023 Castle Lager Premier League season with high hopes of retaining most of the players who were in their books last season.
The Nesbert “Yabo” Saruchera-coached side survived relegation at the last minute in their maiden year in the top-flight but the mentor has vowed to pose a strong challenge in their second year in the Premiership.
The army side were promoted into the Premier Soccer League in 2019 and endured a two-year period without action because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Saruchera said they are getting back to business and have started with medicals for players they are looking forward to retain.
“We are doing medicals and we will start pre-season by the end of the week where we will take a look at some of the players we are expecting to bring on board.
“We have players whom we still have contracts with, who we are going to retain and they are the ones we are having medicals with. At the moment we are not sure how many players we are going to part ways with and those we are going to bring on board as it is still early. I think we still need at least three to four weeks to be in a position to map our way forward.
“We do not believe in pre-season trials as it consume a lot of time. We are not going to have any trials of some sort but rather have a look at those players who were recommended to us. We have a young team which is full of talent and I think by keeping the team together it will help us in our second season,” said Saruchera.
The seasoned coach said he was happy with their survival in the Premier Soccer League which proved to be competitive.
“I think after our survival we learnt a lot which we will use in the upcoming season. Avoiding relegation was our main priority in our first season after we won promotion and we managed that feat so we are looking forward to improve this season.
“We are going to be competitive and a top eight or top four finish will be our target this season. I think teams will need to be ready for us as we are looking forward to building a strong and competitive side.
“The players are now ripe and I am grateful that we will be welcoming back some of our players who had underwent military training like Sylvester Munhura who is a key player for us. It will be a plus to register most of our young players who were not around at the end of last season,” said Saruchera.
Cranborne Bullets managed to finish the season on position 13 three points away from Harare City who occupied the last relegation slot.
Online Reporter