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Ricky Zililo, Senior Sports Reporter
IT’S not funny to see giants like Dynamos crawling at the bottom of the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League table due to their present poor form.
Dynamos have had a pathetic start to the 2016 season and will need more than a miracle to get their championship hopes back on track.
They are second from the bottom with five points from six games. The former champions have recorded just a single win, 2-1 against Mutare City in Week Three, two 0-0 draws against Triangle United and Hwange, as well as two defeats to Caps United and FC Platinum.
On a weekend when all three Premiership teams from the capital, Caps United, Dynamos and Harare City suffered losses, the biggest defeat was DeMbare’s 0-1 fall to FC Platinum at Rufaro Stadium.
A former fortress feared by visiting teams, Rufaro Stadium seems to have been reduced to a kindergarten playground for away teams so far this year, with Dynamos’ best result at the venue being a 0-0 draw against Triangle United in Week Three.
This was followed by identical 0-1 losses to Caps United in Week Four and FC Platinum on Sunday.
So dreary has Dynamos’ start been that their strike force has become paper tigers, only scoring two goals in six outings. The two goals were scored in Dynamos’ 2-1 win over newcomers Mutare City Rovers and are equal to what leaders FC Platinum have conceded.
At this rate, Dynamos, who have gone for 270 minutes without scoring, may have to wait until Week 13 to play Border Strikers to record victory. Strikers are the only team that has performed poorer than Dynamos so far this season.
After firing Portuguese coach Paulo Jorge Silva in the build-up to the FC Platinum encounter, Dynamos failed to convert chances they created against the Zvishavane-based side on Sunday.
Interim coach Lloyd Mutasa has been given five games to prove his worth and having failed to win his first match, Dynamos fans chose to demonstrate their displeasure with affairs at the club by holding the team hostage for over an hour after the game and attacking secretary-general Webster Chikengezha.
Not even the firing of teargas deterred the rowdy and angry DeMbare fans, who menacingly charged at the police, who were trying to break up their protest.
To get out of the relegation hellhole, Dynamos need to start picking points and their next three opponents are tricky customers in the form of Tsholotsho FC, fierce rivals Highlanders and Chapungu.
Tsholotsho stunned Harare City 1-0 in the capital and they would be eager to maintain or better their record against Dynamos whom they are yet to lose to in the PSL.
Tsholotsho held Dynamos 0-0 in the first leg in Harare and drew 1-1 in Bulawayo last season.
Tsholotsho have made their intentions of a top eight finish clear and a victory over Dynamos will aide them towards realising that dream.
Highlanders clobbered Ngezi Platinum 4-1 at Baobab Stadium on Saturday and after last season’s controversial 2-3 loss to Dynamos at Rufaro Stadium, Bosso will certainly be keen to rub salt into DeMbare’s wounds in Week Eight.
Bosso coach Erol Akbay spoke about his team’s need to continue winning and with the possibility of ending Highlanders’ 10-year winless league run against Dynamos, the Dutch gaffer will be fired up to break that jinx.
Highlanders’ last beat Dynamos 2-0 in the league at Barbourfields Stadium on July 30, 2006.
Bosso are second on the table, three points behind leaders FC Platinum, and will want to maintain their fine run to keep their title hopes alive.
Caps United’s bubble burst on Saturday when they lost 1-2 to How Mine at Luveve Stadium in an exciting match that was literally a game of two halves.
How Mine dominated and made the most of their first half possession with goals by Charles Sibanda and Qadri Amin. Abbas Amidu pulled one back for Caps United in a second half that the Harare side dominated.
The second half turned out to be a Joel Ngodzo show as the former Highlanders and FC Platinum midfielder covered every blade of grass and delivered killer passes that his teammates, however, fluffed.
Results
Friday: Chicken Inn 1-2 Triangle United
Saturday: How Mine 2-1 Caps United, Harare City 0-1 Tsholotsho FC, Ngezi Platinum Stars 1-4 Highlanders, ZPC Kariba 2-0 Mutare City Rovers
Sunday: Border Strikers 0-1 Hwange, Bulawayo City 1-1 Chapungu, Dynamos 0-1 FC Platinum
Online Reporter
derick.khumalo