Popopo says it’s still early days

Ellina Mhlanga Sports Reporter
HIGH-RIDING Mushowani Stars coach Paul “Popopo” Chimalizeni says it’s still early days to start talking about winning the World Navi Northern Region Division One championship. The veteran coach was left a happy man after his team maintained pole position with an impressive 2-1 victory over Flame Lily at Chikurubi.

The Mashonaland Central-based side are yet to lose a game this season and their quest for a Premiership slot gathered momentum last Saturday following their priceless win over Flame Lily.

Chimalizeni said his team has been impressive since day one and they took their game to another level at Chikurubi.
“It was a good game. I think we were the better team of the day and it’s good we kept pole position,” said Chimalizeni.  “I am looking forward to maintaining that position.”

Chimalizeni said they were just concentrating on their game and were not worried about how other teams were playing.
“Just like any other team, our expectations are to be at the top of the log and then we have to see where we will be come end of the season,” said Chimalizeni.

“It’s only seven games (that we have played) and we still have many games to go. What we should do is just to maintain our position. We are not looking at other teams, how they are playing, we are just focusing on our games and sticking to our philosophy and it has paid dividends.”

His counterpart, Nesbert “Yabo” Saruchera hailed his charges for a good show despite their loss and said they will fight their way back to the top.
“Maybe luck was not on our side, we created a lot of chances but we couldn’t utilise those chances,” said Saruchera.

“Mushowani played well. The season is still very young, we have to fight back to the top of the log standings. We need to be promoted at the end of the season so we need to keep fighting.”

Saruchera said they just need to work on their finishing because he believes they are doing well in other departments of their team.
“We need to work on our finishing, we are not going to have many changes because we feel we are playing well.
“Maybe we have to make sure that we start scoring more goals,” said Saruchera.

This was their first defeat at home since the season started.

Results:
Flame 1 Mushowani 2, ZRP Morris 2 Blue Swallows 1,Karoi 0 Dstv Rangers 0, Gunners 2 Commando 1, Royal Classic 0 Lake Harvest 2, Seven Flames  1 Starbill 1, Twalumba 1 Black Mambas 0
Bindura 2 DC Academy 1, Ngezi Platinum 3 Chegutu 0.

Log Standings