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Eddie Chikamhi Senior Sports Reporter
DESPITE their fine run in the Castle Lager Premiership football, Dynamos coach Tonderai Ndiraya is still not satisfied by his team’s performance in front of goal and has challenged his strikers to raise their game if they hope to go all the way and end an eight-year championship drought this season.
The Harare giants, who opened a two-point gap at the top of the log standings last week with the victory at Whawha, are set to host basement side Bulawayo City at the National Sports Stadium on Sunday.
However, Ndiraya is apparently not happy with his side’s conversion rate. He said DeMbare have been creating chances but have failed to capitalise them.
“I think we have done well in the past two matches but what is important at the end of the day is the end result. We have created chances and what are we doing with those chances?
“We haven’t been able to score and it remains a cause for concern. Of course, we have made some progress but we are judged by how many goals we score.
“I am happy with the chances we are creating but not so happy about our finishing; I am not happy about the strikers so far,” said Ndiraya.
DeMbare have relied heavily on Ghanaian Emmanuel Paga and teenage winger Bill Antonio for goals this season. Paga has grabbed five goals in 10 starts while Antonio has contributed three goals and a couple of assists.
But the same cannot be said of fellow forwards like Evans Katema, Tatenda Makanda, Albert Eonde, Ghanaian Martin Orfori and big Nigerian forward Alex Ototomal, who only broke his duck at Whawha last week.
Ndiraya yesterday challenged his charges to fight for the Golden Boot. He said he would be satisfied if they can stand up to leading scorers William Manondo of CAPS United and Nyasha Chintuli of Manica Diamonds who top the charts with nine goals apiece.
“Of course, I am happy with Paga. He has scored five goals in 10 matches but if we really want to fight for honours we must have consistency in terms of scoring.
“If you are a top striker, you have to be consistent and score in almost every game that you play. It’s difficult but we want that consistency. If you look at the top scorer at the moment, they have got nine goals each, I think.
“Naturally we would want to have one of our strikers among the top scorers, then we would be in a good position. We hope to continue creating chances and be clinical in front of goal,” said Ndiraya.
Dynamos have scored 16 goals in 13 outings this season. To their credit they have been finding the back of the net with regularity and failed to score in only four games.
Their biggest win was the 3-1 victory over Tenax at the National Sports Stadium. But they drew blanks against Triangle, Chicken Inn, FC Platinum and Ngezi Platinum.
Their defence has been the mainstay of their campaign. Ndiraya’s team has conceded the least number of goals after letting in only five in 13 games.
Ndiraya sounded cautious ahead of the clash with Bulawayo City this Sunday. Bulawayo City have changed their technical team after sacking Philani Ncube and replacing him with Farai Tawachera this week.
“We have done a lot of work in that area and hopefully this week we can be very clinical in front of goal. We ended up being under so much pressure in Gweru after having created a lot of chances.
“We don’t want that in a match, you would want to take your chances and then of course manage the game and get a result. But it was a different case in Gweru. Whawha gave us a very good match and that’s what we are also expecting from Bulawayo City.
“It’s also a very difficult match in the sense that they have changed coaches. There is now a new coach and normally when that happens players tend to give their all because they would really want to prove to the new coach that they can play.
“So we are anticipating a very difficult match from Bulawayo City but it’s a match that we have prepared for and hopefully we can get a result.
“We have gone for eight matches now unbeaten. It is our wish to continue on that path. The Bulawayo City game is no different, we would want to get a result and hopefully we will get a good result,” said Ndiraya.
Leftback Brendon Mpofu joined the rest of the squad in training yesterday after missing the trip to Whawha with a groin sprain. The leftback, however, is not expected to play a part in the weekend fixture.
Tino Muringai is also still out with a knee injury that has kept him on the sidelines for almost a month.
“I am happy that’s the only casualty that we have in our camp.
“The medical team has been doing a fantastic job to make sure that all our players are treated quickly and come back to the field,” said Ndiraya.
Bongani Ndlovu
Online Reporter