adminCastle Lager Premiership table.
CAPS United have gained a point, from where they were after 13 league games last season, while FC Platinum have suffered from a recent slump and, for all the optimism that greeted the arrival of coach Tennant Chilumba, the brutal reality is that they are two points worse off than at this stage last year.
Only four teams, from the dozen clubs that remained in the top-flight league this season, have actually gained, in terms of points on the board, with Mambas and Harare City leading the way while there have been marginal gains for the Green Machine and Chicken Inn.
Losses, some marginal and others quite significant, have been recorded across the board and although Bosso, just as was the case last season, lead the race after 13 league matches, they are in a slightly weaker position, in terms of points on the board, than last year.
The Bulawayo giants, chasing their first league title in seven years, are down two points from their tally, after 13 matches, last season but, crucially, they still occupy pole position and, just as was the case last year, their lead is four points at this stage of the campaign.
Kevin Kaindu and his men have the same number of wins (9), after 13 games this year as was the case last season, have scored exactly the same number of goals (25), conceded four more goals (seven in 2012 and 11 this campaign), drawn two more games and have suffered two more losses as they were unbeaten at this point last year.
Bosso will feel they have the edge, going into decisive second round of the campaign, because they have home games against Dynamos, CAPS United, FC Platinum, Monomotapa, Shabanie and Hwange given they would have completed away fixtures against these teams, in the first half of the campaign.
If they can turn Barbourfields into a fortress, the way it was last season when they were unbeaten throughout the campaign at home, then Kaindu and his troops have a very good chance of being champions given that 10 of their 15 second half league games, including the big ones against DeMbare, CAPS and FC Platinum, are on home soil.
Champions Dynamos have also shed two points from their tally, after 13 league games, when compared to last season and, just as was the case last year, the Glamour Boys are in second place and they can see Bosso in the lead with a four-point advantage.
Callisto Pasuwa and his men have won fewer games (two), compared to where they were at this stage last season, have drawn five more games but, unlike last year, they have turned themselves into a unit that is difficult to beat and remain unbeaten in the first 13 league matches of the campaign.
Two of the big issues that have come out DeMbare’s campaign are a strikeforce, which was prematurely ridiculed at the beginning of the season but is beginning to find its feet, and a defensive unit that has retained both its stability and misery qualities, even in the prolonged enforced absence of Guthrie Zhokinyi.
When DeMbare lost Denver Mukamba, their leading goalscorer and playmaker last season, Rodreck Mutuma and Simba Sithole, at the beginning of the season, questions were asked about the wisdom of investing in some of the replacements like Washington Arubi, Clive Kawinga and the returning Patrick Kumbula.
But, for all the rough transition they endured, they are beginning to settle and, after 13 league games of the season, Dynamos have scored just four fewer goals than at this stage last year when, aided by Takesure Chinyama’s storming start, they had plundered 22 goals.
If there is something that Pasuwa, who keeps emerging as the perfect coaching clone of Sunday Chidzambwa with each assignment that he faces, is doing right and has become a big recipe of his successful coaching manual, then it has to be the discipline and balance that he finds in his defence lines.
It can’t be a coincidence, can it, that Pasuwa’s defence, after 13 league matches last season, had conceded just six goals and this year, after the same number of games, they have also let in exactly six goals, too?
He might not be flashy but he is turning into a very good coach.
Harare City have been the biggest movers, in terms of climbing up the table, and where they were 10th, after 13 games last season, they are seven places up into third, with the same number of points as Dynamos having won three more games, scored six more goals and conceded fewer goals (three) in an impressive all-round improvement.
Black Mambas have been the success story of the Premiership, in terms of points won, as John “Toto” Ncube’s men have doubled their tally from last season, after 13 games, have won three more games, lost fewer games (two less matches), scored four more goals and conceded fewer goals (three).
CAPS United are a point better than their tally last season, have won one more game but also lost one more game, scored two more goals and conceded two more goals but where they were eighth last season, they are now sixth. FC Platinum roared off the blocks, as Chilumba’s arrival brought a spring in their step, but after 13 games they find themselves two points worse off, than last season, have won one game less and have also scored fewer goals (five).
Other Teams
Chicken Inn — One point better, one more game won, same number of losses, two more goals scored, six more goals conceded. Risen from sixth to fourth!
Shabanie — Six points lost, four more games lost, less goals scored (five), more goals conceded (seven). Dropped from fifth to eighth!
Buffaloes — Eight points lost, fewer games won (two), four more games lost, 11 more goals conceded. Dropped from fourth to ninth!
Monomotapa — Four points lost, fewer games won (two), one more goal scored, three more conceded. Dropped from seventh to 10th!
Hwange — Three points lost, fewer games won (two), fewer goals scored (10), fewer goals conceded (nine). Dropped from 11th to 12th!
Motor Action — Seven points lost, fewer games won (two), more games lost (three), same number of goals scored and eight more goals conceded. Dropped from ninth to 14th!
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