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Langton Nyakwenda
Zimpapers Sports Hub
AFTER scoring five Premier Soccer League goals, plus one big one in the 2023 Chibuku Super Cup final, it was no surprise when a then-18-year-old Elton Chikona won the Most Promising Player award.
Chikona capped the 2023 Castle Lager Premier Soccer League season in style, opening the scores as Dynamos beat Ngezi Platinum Stars 2-0 to bag their maiden Chibuku Super Cup at Baobab on December 3.
Emmanuel Paga, who was DeMbare’s top scorer with 10 goals, scored the other goal in that final.
Naturally, it was expected the two would drag their form into the 2024 season.
Many also predicted the duo to be the leading lights at Dynamos where goals have become a rare commodity these days.
Sadly, both strikers have struggled this term.
Although he has had little game time, it’s still unbelievable that Chikona is yet to open his account, with Dynamos going into a penultimate fixture against Ngezi Platinum Stars at Baobab on Saturday. On the other hand, Paga has been stuck on three goals since June.
DeMbare’s leading scorer is a winger, Valentine Kadonzvo, who has five goals and is a massive 11 behind the league’s top scorer Lynoth Chikuhwa of Highlanders.
All in all, the Harare giants have scored 28 goals in 32 matches, at an average of 0.9 goals per match. DeMbare had the same return at the halfway stage when Genesis Mangombe was still in charge.
Lloyd “MaBlanyo” Chigowe replaced Mangombe in August, but the veteran gaffer has also failed to find the solution to this perennial goal-scoring crisis.
In one of the interviews with this publication, Chigowe acknowledged the crisis.
“Scoring has been a problem at the club but we are trying to come up with methods that should see us getting goals from different sources,” he said.
Chigowe’s predecessor, Mangombe, also sang from the same hymn book, a few weeks before he was fired.
“We are a bit worried about our conversion rate; it’s not healthy to have a top scorer with three goals; it’s not proper for a team like Dynamos,” lamented Mangombe, ahead of Week 17 fixtures. Paga was DeMbare’s leading scorer with three goals when Mangombe was fired and the Ghanaian is yet to find the target since then. Although they have an outstanding fixture, Dynamos’ figures are an embarrassment, when compared to their peers.
DeMbare have scored 16 goals less than FC Platinum who are the leading scorers in the league with 44 goals. Highlanders have 42 goals, Ngezi Platinum Stars are on 41 while new champions Simba Bhora have banged 39.
DeMbare’s rivals CAPS United have 37 goals.
Yadah Stars (36) and TelOne (34) both have a better goal return than Dynamos.
The fact that Kadonzvo leads DeMbare’s scoring charts with a paltry five goals, after 32 rounds, best summarises the catastrophe at the once glamorous club.
Namibian striker Sadyney Urikhob arrived on the local scene early this year as a highly rated and vastly experienced striker, but the bald forward has failed to live up to the hype.
Urikhob has three league goals to his name.
Online Reporter