‘It’s a dog-eat-dog affair’

Eddie Chikamhi Sports Reporter
DYNAMOS team manager Richard Chihoro says the remainder of the season will be a dog-eat-dog affair after the top three teams involved in the Castle Lager Premiership race stumbled in their matches to leave the Glamour Boys with a slight advantage going to the last three games.

The Harare giants, who are involved in a tense battle for the 2013 crown with four other teams, escaped with a point from Triangle to hold on to their position at the summit courtesy of Simba Sithole’s late equaliser.

Their closest rivals Harare City also survived a real scare, including a penalty miss by relegation-threatened Black Rhinos, in a goalless draw at Rimuka.

Highlanders fluffed a good opportunity to go back to the top when they were held to a 1-1 draw by demoted Motor Action, who had nothing to play for except pride.

Chihoro believes there should be no room for mistakes in their last three games against Shabanie Mine, Chicken Inn and Black Mambas as they seek to claim the 20th league title and a third straight crown under Callisto Pasuwa.

“It’s unfortunate we couldn’t win at Triangle but the results elsewhere were good for us. It shows there are no small teams in the league.
“The encouraging thing, though, is that nothing changed at the top. But we need to dust ourselves up and start collecting maximum points.

“It’s a dog-eat-dog situation now and our players need to keep focused because it’s now tricky with the way some of these matches are being handled,” said Chihoro.

Dynamos remained at the top of the table with 49 points, with three matches remaining.
Harare City, also on 49 points, and Highlanders on 48, were unmoved on the table as FC Platinum drifted further behind on 45 points following their 2-0 defeat by Chicken Inn.

But Dynamos’ hard-fought point at Triangle could have come at a cost as vice-captain Tawanda Muparati was taken out in severe pain in the second half.

He was sent for a scan yesterday to ascertain the extent of the injury to his shoulder.
Muparati could not finish the match as he was pulled out, four minutes after the restart, following a collision with a Triangle player in the 2-2 draw at Gibbo on Sunday.

“He was in great pain but he looks fine. We have instructed him to go and get an X-ray taken since we don’t want to risk anything.
“We will then see after we get the X-ray result,” said Chihoro.

The league games will take a break this weekend to make way for the Mbada Diamonds Cup and Dynamos will play their next game when they host Shabanie Mine next week.

Highlanders assistant coach Bheki Ndlovu admitted they blew a golden chance when they allowed Motor action to come back from a goal down to claim a share of the spoils.

Ndlovu said the players could have made a mistake to underrate the Mighty Bulls since the team had been relegated.
“The result showed that there is no small team in the league. When you play, you have to play to your best. We are still in a position to fight for the title and we have to take each game as it comes and see where that will take us,” said Ndlovu.

Highlanders will have a tricky test against Triangle in their next league match.
Triangle stretched their unbeaten run to nine matches having last tested defeat in July in the 1-3 loss to Buffaloes.

Since then Gishon Ntini’s men, who scored 22 goals and conceded 10 during the same period, have managed to win four and draw five of their matches, including Sunday’s game against Dynamos.

Ndlovu is aware they have a huge task ahead of them as they will travel for a showdown against Harare City and then host Shabanie Mine in their last game of the season.

CAPS United assistant coach Brenna Msiska says the Green Machine have an outside chance in a championship race that is headed for an exciting finish after his side covered considerable ground to revive their slim hopes.

The Green Machine were the only team in the Top Six to collect maximum points at the weekend in their 1-0 win over Buffaloes away at Sakubva.

“The race is still on. It says something if we have a photo-finish featuring not only two teams but three or four. This is the competition that we need because it makes everything exciting.

“It is healthy for the league,” said Msiska.
CAPS United slashed the difference between them and the leaders to four points.

The Green Machine, who recovered from the disappointing 4-1 loss to Black Mambas a fortnight ago, now have 45 points from 27 games following their wins over How Mine and Buffaloes in the last two games.

“On paper there is still a chance but we are not concentrating more on that.
“What we want at the moment is to play our own games consistently and if possible get all the nine points.

“It will not help us to look at what other teams involved in the championship race are doing because it ends up putting unnecessary pressure on us.

“Right now we are happy with the result we got at Buffaloes and the responses we are getting from the players.
“We have seen different players doing duty for the team recently.

“This has really triggered competition for places because it shows that anyone who does well at training to earn the place can play and deliver,” said Msiska.