Online Reporter
Tadious Manyepo-Zimpapers Sports Hub
JOEL LUPHAHLA has credited Simba Bhora’s pre-season bonding exercise in South Africa for cementing the telepathic unity with which the squad is playing.
The defending champions are back on top of the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League log standings with 40 points to their name, the same as surprise packages and debutants MWOS.
But the Shamva outfit, forced into some rebuilding exercise at the start of the season following some departures of key players and championship-winning coach Tonderai Ndiraya, have quickly regrouped and are mounting a strong defence of their title.
They are enjoying a superior goal difference over the Punters.
Yet Simba Bhora started the season slowly.
The nerves they displayed early into the season, mostly due to their losing seven of the key players from last year’s squad, have totally disappeared.
Last weekend, Simba Bhora twice came from behind to beat Herentals 3-2 further showing the never-die spirit which Luphahla also credited to their pre-term tour across the Limpopo.
“I am loving that fighting spirit from my boys, yeah, it’s something that we have instilled in them.
“It is something that came from the pre-season that we had in South Africa.
“And I want to thank the owner of the club (Simba Ndoro) for making the tour possible, because that is where everything that you are seeing today was born.
“It was born in South Africa, the bonding and everything and these boys, even when you see them in training, you’ll never see four players changing there, three players changing there . . .
“They change as a team, and that alone allows them to be able to fight for each other, even when one makes a mistake, it’s never about an individual player, but it’s collective.
“If we make a mistake, everybody makes a mistake, and that alone, I think, has helped us to see how they are playing.”
While Simba Bhora have taken the driving seat going into the decisive phase of the marathon, Luphahla wants his charges to be more detailed and alert as the season enters the delicate final 14 games of the term.
TelOne and Scottland are not far off while Ngezi Platinum Stars, FC Platinum and Herentals are still within touching distance of the leading pack.
“Second half of the season is not the same as the first.
“How teams were playing in the first half of the season is totally different in the second phase.
“That is because now they have got targets to attain,” added Luphahla.
“Some are fighting for the championship, some to avoid relegation, some top four, some top eight. So, each and every team has got targets, and everybody wants to defend those targets.
“At the end of the day, if we get opportunities, I feel that we should be mature enough to be able to bury them.
“We will need to learn how to concentrate throughout the second period of the term.
“It’s not going to be easy, and nobody is going to give you that chance to breathe. At the end of the day, if you have opportunities, get the three points and move towards the objective.”
Simba Bhora host struggling Dynamos at Wadzanai on Saturday in their next fixture.
And the tie will be an awkward undertaking for Luphahla who was the Glamour Boys assistant coach only last year working with the now ousted Lloyd “Ma Blanyo” Chigowe.
While his Simba Bhora is flying, DeMbare is sinking, sitting 17th on the log.
It is a game that both teams wouldn’t want to lose for contrasting reasons.
For Luphahla, the weight on his shoulders is huge, not least after losing the reverse tie at Rufaro in what remains one of the only two games Dynamos have won in 20 outings.
Simba Bhora haven’t been convincing at home and Luphahla wants to make the fans happy by winning against Dynamos.
The latter need the points more than Simba Bhora do, and they won’t easily drop them especially against a coach who was part of their family just six months ago.
