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Eddie Chikamhi Senior Sports Reporter
NGEZI Platinum Stars coach Takesure Chiragwi is confident his team will be able to pick up the broken pieces and go all the way in their quest to win their first ever league title despite encountering a setback in the defeat to giants Dynamos during the midweek.
The platinum miners failed to extend their lead at the top after losing 2-1 at the National Sports Stadium, on a day closest rivals Highlanders and FC Platinum also failed to collect maximum points. Highlanders were held 1-1 at GreenFuel while FC Platinum suffered a deflating 1-2 loss, at their Mandava fortress, to relegation fighters Black Rhinos.
The midweek results meant Ngezi Platinum Stars, on 54 points, still have a healthy cushion of seven points at the apex, going into the last six games of the season.
They had an eight-point advantage over nearest rivals FC Platinum, going into the midweek fixtures. But, following FC Platinum’s loss, Bosso moved into second place with the share of the spoils at GreenFuel and they now have 47 points.
FC Platinum dropped to fourth after the shock loss to Rhinos and have the same points with DeMbare, who slithered into third place on 46 points, and with a game in hand after their last fixture against Manica Diamonds was postponed.
DeMbare could slash Ngezi Platinum’s lead at the top to five points, if they manage maximum points at Manica Diamonds.
However, Ngezi Platinum coach Chiragwi said the defeat to DeMbare, which came just under two weeks after they were also beaten by champions FC Platinum, would not derail their march towards glory.
“For us we don’t have any setbacks, it’s part of the game,” said Chiragwi.
“When you are playing football you need to have that courage because you lose, you win and you draw. All these three results are part of the game. “So when you get one of these results, that is what football is about. So you have to accept and admit and make sure you pick yourself up and move forward.
“The only thing that you can be worried about is when the team is not performing. But what guarantees you for the team to win games is the performance rather than scoring because if you just score without good performances it’s going to be difficult for you to make sure that you play and win the game.
“But if we perform better and lose we don’t mind because we know from that performance that the difference was on the goals and then we make sure we go and rectify how we are supposed to defend, and make sure we don’t concede and we also score and win games.”
Chiragwi believes his team has worked hard to reach this stage at the top.
“It’s not yet over. The eight-point lead is because we have done our job and we deserve to have the points because No one gave them to us on a silver platter but we worked for them.
“So we need to keep on working hard if we are to maintain, which is good. That’s exactly what we want because the more we maintain that’s how the team improves to keep on pushing for-ward,” said Chiragwi.
They host struggling Yadah tomorrow in their next game. Title rivals Dynamos will be travelling to Kariba for an interesting date with Luke Masomere’s unpredictable men. “Dynamos will not be with their star midfielder who was shown red card for a second bookable offence following his silly antics in delaying departure from the pitch after he was substituted during the victory over Ngezi Platinum Stars. DeMbare coach Genesis Mangombe will be hoping that another midfielder Tanaka Shandirwa, who missed the last game due to a back injury would have recovered. Mangombe was taken aback by the booking of one of his key players.
“These are some of the decisions made by the referee; he is the man in charge and is closer to the player,” said Mangombe.
“Maybe they exchanged bad words but I really don’t know what happened.
“I just saw him showing him a red card and I still have to look at it and see what could be the problem. We have registered 30 players. Like you see (in the game against Ngezi) Shandirwa was not there but we still managed to play and win. Shadreck Nyahwa played very well in that position,” said Mangombe.
Fixtures:
Tomorrow: Black Rhinos v Chicken Inn (Bata), Triangle v Simba Bhora (Gibbo), FC Platinum v GreenFuel (Mandava), Herentals v Sheasham (NSS)
Sunday: Manica Diamonds v Hwange (Gibbo), ZPC Kariba v Dynamos (Nyamhunga), Bulawayo Chiefs v Highlanders (Barbourfields), Ngezi Platinum Stars v Yadah (Baobab), CAPS Utd v Cranborne Bullets (NSS
WEEK 28 RESULTS
Yesterday: Cranborne Bullets 0-1 Bulawayo Chiefs
Yadah 1-1 Manica Diamonds
Wednesday: Chicken Inn 4-0 ZPC Kariba
Dynamos 2-1 Ngezi Platinum
FC Platinum 1-2 Black Rhinos
Greenfuel 1-1 Highlanders
Hwange 1-0 Herentals
Sheasham 1-1 Triangle
Simba Bhora 2-3 CAPS United
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