adminEllina Mhlanga Sports Reporter
COMMANDO Bullets team manager John Mandaza has hailed his side for picking a point away from home when they held log leaders Bindura United to goalless draw in the World Navi Northern Region Division One soccer league over the weekend.Many teams have travelled to Chipadze and returned empty-handed, but the soldiers battled all afternoon to frustrate Bindura United in their backyard. The result was Commando’s fifth draw as they have managed only two wins this season.
Their last victory came three weeks ago when they edged struggling Royal Classic 1-0.
Despite his team being 14th on the 18 team log table, Mandaza said he was happy that they have put together a youthful side to carry the club in this year’s campaign.
“I am happy with the performance of my team and the goalkeeper, Malvin Moyo, put up a brilliant performance from the beginning of the game. So far for this season we want to maintain our position in the league and as for the race to championships it will be a bonus. We want to make sure we upgrade our youngsters, these are junior players we are using now and the coming season we know they would have matured and can run for the championships.
“We also fielded one of our youngsters, Nyasha Gore, it was his first game and he was just brilliant. We want to groom them so that they can be marketable even to the national team,” said Mandaza.
The Commando team manager also dismissed allegations that they fielded unlicensed players in Saturday’s game.
“It’s just that Bindura failed to win against my team so they are saying I forged the players’ licenses. How can I forge when Zifa wrote a confirmation letter, we paid for the licenses, it’s only that they are not yet out,” Mandaza said.
Commando might have been happy with the draw but Bindura coach John Wilo was disappointed with having to drop two points, which he felt could have helped them stretch their lead at the top.
Online Reporter