So far, so good: Manica Diamonds coach

Ray Bande in MUTARE

CASTLE Lager Premiership football outfit Manica Diamonds coach Jairos Tapera, whose team returned to their Mutare base late last week after a week-long pre-season training camp in Chiredzi, is convinced that his team have covered considerable ground in their preparation for the 2023 season.

The Gem Boys, as Manica Diamonds are fondly referred to by their growing fan base in Manicaland, ended last season on 10th position on the table.

The club has been having a busy, if not one of the busiest off-season transfer windows, roping in nine new players mainly from Triangle, Dynamos, Tenax CS FC and Black Rhinos and the players include Bret Amidu, Ralph Kawondera, Donald Ngoma, Gerald Bero, Farai Banda, Tedious Baye, Panashe Mutasa, Geoffrey Chitsumba, Kelvin Gwao, Tawanda Chisi and Trevor Mavhunga.

Manica Diamonds returned to their base in Mutare late last week after a week-long pre-season training camp in Chiredzi where the newly acquired players were meant to gel.

And coach Tapera said: “Our preparations are going on well. So far so good. The 10 days we spent in Chiredzi were meant for bonding. Remember this is a new team with quite a number of new players, hence the need to bond and gel.

“I think this was adequately achieved during the training camp in Chiredzi. We are now going ahead with the ball word related preparations and that entails combinations and on field movements.”

Tapera said they have lined up some teams to play some pre-season friendly matches with.

“We have a number of teams that we are eager to engage for friendly matches and we can only announce their identity when all is in place. That would also be an important part of our preparations as it will give us an insight into our strengths and weaknesses,” said Tapera.

The former Young Warriors gaffer took over as Manica Diamonds head coach from Johanisi Nhumwa towards the end of the 2021-2022 Castle Lager Premiership season, with five matches remaining.

Elsewhere in the eastern border city, relegated Tenax CS brand survived after a decision was made to leave one Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services football team.

Initially, Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services (ZPCS) had indicated that it will only remain with one team based in Harare after the relegation of sister clubs — Tenax CS FC and Hwahwa FC — from the top-flight league at the end of last season.

But after deliberations held early this year involving the ZPCS leadership and their sports department, a decision was made to reward Tenax CS for ending the season on a relatively higher position than their Midlands counterparts hence the survival of the name Tenax CS FC! ZPCS national sports officer, Richard Tarangei, recently said: “We are quite happy to announce that the Commissioner General of ZPCS, Moses Chihobvu, did pronounce last year in August that going forward we are going to have one team as a way of cutting costs and putting talent in one basket to compete favourably.

“Having noted that our teams Tenax CS and Hwahwa did not perform very well in the Premier Soccer League, leading to their relegation. The committee that sat down decided that the one team that will represent ZPCS will run under the name Tenax CS FC and will be housed here in Mutare. Everyone is happy with that.”

Tarangei confirmed that the team’s technical department will comprise of former Warriors’ forward Luke Jukulile Petros as head coach and will be assisted by Msendeki Khumbulani, Maxwell Chipfuko and Blessing Madombi.