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Speaking after their 5-3 whipping in the hands of a rejuvenated Highlanders team, Wellington Ngulube the club’s secretary-general said their long term goal was to bring the Premier Soccer League crown to the heartland in the coming five years.
He said a poor start that has seen them winless in three matches does not scare them off at all. Ngulube said relegation was out of question.
“Our target is to have the league trophy in our cabinet within the next five years and we are positive we will do that. Just look at how Gunners won the league in their second season. Relegation is the least of our worries as it is simply out of the question even though we are yet to win a Premier League match,” said a confident Ngulube.
The defiant official attributed their poor run of results to lack of the periodisation process that is proper pre-season preparation. He said their Premiership status was confirmed late after a wrangle that ended in the courts with Beitbridge’s Tripple B losing and as far as they were concerned they were still in pre-season training and their games would start in their next fixture — their fourth league tie of the season.
He said teams were afforded a minimum of eight weeks but they only had three weeks as they were still embroiled in the Centralgate scandal.
“We only registered 23 players of the 30 that the PSL requires and we are still looking for the seven players and as for our losses we are not worried as our boys are still acclimatising to the rigours of the league but in our next game we are expecting results,” he said.
Ngulube said they were happy with the quality they have but were looking for reinforcements in the form of some experienced players who were going to add value to their team.
“What the team needs is some battle-hardened players who will bring experience to the team since we have noticed that our defence sometimes relaxes but our strikers are ever sharp as we saw in the goals they poached against Highlanders,” said Ngulube.
The Hardbody spokesperson lauded the awesome response the Midlands residents had shown to the team. He said that was highlighted in their last home encounter against Black Mambas where a radio station had announced that the match had been postponed only for the same station to announce that the match was still on some hours before the match but fans still came in their numbers.
Ngulube urged people in the Midlands to desist from mudslinging as that tarnished the good name of the sport instead of bringing people together as the game of soccer is supposed to do.
Quizzed about the Centralgate saga, Ngulube said the issue had pointed at certain individuals and he was not at liberty to comment on that as the best qualified people were those whose names were brought up.
That Hardbody are operating in their own time zone was again highlighted by the satisfaction their coach Tavaka Gumbo expressed in the team’s performance in their 5-3 thrashing by Highlanders and it is baffling that what many would perceive as points lost the Midlands team looks at it in a different light as they only see the experience gained.
Meanwhile, Ngulube said his team was looking forward to this weekend’s match against Hwange as it was to be their first season’s test after their preparations.
Online Reporter