Online Reporter
Tadious Manyepo
Zimpapers Sports Hub
BLACK Rhinos coach Weddington Chinyan’anya says consistency will be key in the second half of the Northern Region Soccer League season if his team is to unlock their full potential and win a ticket back into the Premiership.
Until the penultimate round of the opening phase of the NRSL term, the army had not lost a match and were neck-to-neck with leaders N’ombeyawora.
However, they lost both the closing two games first to Trojan then Chinhoyi Stars, losing not just steam but ground to the leading pair of N’ombeyawora and Agama who went to the break enjoying a six-point gap over Rhinos.
Chauya Chipembere are a seasoned team and Chinyan’ana knows the road is still wide open ahead to overtake the leaders provided they tick the right boxes in the second period.
“It’s very unfortunate that we fizzled out towards the end of the first half of the season. We could have been all square with both Agama and N’ombeyawora at the top had we done what we were set out to do in the opening half.
“We literally slept on duty for those 180 minutes. But that’s part of the game and that is always to be expected in football. We are working very hard in training right now to try and pick those elements which will make us tick consistently.
“The second half of the season, especially in the NRSL where competition is always tight, will be very difficult to get the points.
“But that is what we will have to do, win matches, take the points home and move towards our objective.”
Chinyan’anya, a big name in local football circles having won the women league title with Black Rhinos Queens for 10 consecutive times, is eager to also make a mark in men’s football.
“Yes, that is the aim for me. I have done well with the women’s side and I have to show the same grit with the men’s team,” he said.
“I am quite sure the boys are also eager to do well and help the team achieve their target.
“It doesn’t really matter at the end of the day that we lost almost everyone from the squad that played last season. We had to rebuild right from scratch.
“Now we have the rhythm and we feel we can conquer. We are getting one or two more players to reinforce the squad ahead of the start of the second period. Hopefully everything will work for us.”
