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Sports Reporter
BLACK Rhinos goalkeeper Lennon Gonese’s chances of making it to the Northern Region Soccer League’s Soccer Stars calendar are getting slim with each passing game, amid revelations that his 2024 season could be over.
Gonese has not been getting game time at the army side who have slid into third place in the race for promotion from the Division One League.
Rhinos have fallen 10 points behind log leaders MWOS and three shy of second-placed Scottland.
But Gonese has been part of that title run as he has not been getting game time at Rhinos for over a month now.
Gonese has not been in the army side’s Match-day team for the last seven assignment games after he reportedly had a fallout with head coach Nesbert “Yabo” Saruchera.
Close sources to the on-goings at Rhinos suggested that Gonese is being punished for allegedly seeking a move away from the team during the mid-season when he intended to join rivals Scottland.
Rhinos coach Nesbert “Yabo” Saruchera is said to have questioned the timing of the goalkeeper’s bid to move just days after his team had lost to Scottland.
Gonese then suffered a bereavement following the death of his mother last month.
Since then he has not managed to reclaim his spot in the team.
Ironically when he kept the goal for Rhinos, they only lost three times in 24 matches.
They have lost five of the seven games he has since missed.
“I think his season is over after he was omitted again during last week’s one-all draw against Banket United. He is frustrated and has been missing training and I am sure he is waiting for the season to end so that he makes a move if the tension continues,” said a source close to the club.
“He has great potential and has been with the team for some time even when the team was in the Premier League where he made a name by saving some crucial penalties when they were relegated.
“I think he had a fall out with the coach and he is being side-lined which is affecting his career as he still has a bright future. I think he can fit into any Premier League side considering his potential.
“The situation is tough for the promising player who was improving with each season and I believe he will resuscitate his career somewhere else next season. At the beginning of the season, he had the potential of even making it on the soccer stars of the year calendar but all that is going to waste after he was frozen out.”
The previous week Black Rhinos had conceded three goals against Zambezi Coal and Gas in a match in which they eventually scrambled a 4-3 win.
Northern Region Soccer League Fixtures
Tomorrow: Cranborne Bullets v Scottland (Commando); Harare City v Shamva Mine (Rufaro).
Saturday: DZ Royal Stars v PAM (Commando Barracks), Trojan Stars v Black Rhinos (Trojan), Banket United v MWOS (Ku-wadzana), Zambezi G and C v Ngezi Platinum U-19 (Centenary High), Chinhoyi Stars v Karoi United (Chinhoyi), Golden Eagles v Norton Community (Ellis Robbins), Agama v Black Mambas (Pfura),
Sunday: CCLEE Mhangura v Herentals U-20 (Mhangura).
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