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Ray Bande
Senior Reporter
MANICA Diamonds coach, Jairos Tapera, admits that their top man, Fortune Binzi’s absence will have a telling effect on the club’s performance, especially their conversion rate.
Not until Binzi came onto the spotlight, when the La Sakubva product started scoring for fun week-in week-out, Manica Diamonds was struggling to score goals with a poor conversion rate which saw the Gem Boys hardly finding the target more than twice in one match.
But, the Gem Boys’ Castle Lager Premiership campaign was dealt a heavy body blow after their reliable gunslinger, Binzi sustained a left hand injury during their league encounter against Shaesham FC at Gibbo Stadium in Triangle last week on Saturday.
Indications are that the fractured left hand radius bone injury which he suffered after being callously hacked down in a tussle for possession will rule him out of action for about six weeks.
Tapera said: “It is sad that the young man, Fortune Binzi, suffered a right hand injury and he will be out of action for some time. He is one person who was scoring goals for us and we were almost depending on him for goals in a number of matches.
“Now that he is injured, it will be a challenge for us. Yes, we have other players who are capable of scoring goals, but he will certainly be missed, given his contribution in recent matches.”
Sadly, for the Sakubva-born striker, his absence from the Manica Diamonds line-up will give his competitors on the Premier Soccer League’s top goal scorer charts an advantage. Binzi is the top-flight league’s current top goal scorer with a total of eight goals to his name.
Such is the above average scoring prowess that Binzi showed on the big stage that he remains the only player with a hat-trick during this year’s premiership campaign.
Manica Diamonds FC, who occupy fourth position on the latest log standings, will go ahead with their Castle Lager Premiership 2023 season campaign with a date against new boys, Simba Bhora away at Baobab Stadium in Mhondoro.
And coach Tapera, who has adamantly refused to declare his team’s Premiership championship aspirations since the start of the season, is still singing from the same hymn book.
“Just like we have always said, we are keen to keep collecting as many points as we can. That is our focus. We take each match as it comes and our hope at the end of every 90 minutes is that we get maximum points,” said the former Young Warriors gaffer.
Elsewhere in the Premiership, Green Fuel coach, Rodwell Dhlakama, continues leading his club from the doldrums of relegation zone into safe space after collecting maximum points against Simba Bhora in the previous round of league fixtures.
Boys DzeNharo or Ethanol Boys, as Green Fuel are interchangeably referred to by their fans in the Lowveld, will face off against Chicken Inn at Gibbo Stadium in Triangle tomorrow (Saturday).
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