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AFTER spending a week moaning about being robbed by a referee in Algeria, Dynamos showed very little at Rufaro yesterday to give their fans credible evidence that it needs the helping hand of a diabolical match official to defeat them.
It’s hard to imagine that the Harare giants have gone for more than 270 minutes of football without scoring a goal and, more importantly, they have suffered three defeats in a row.
But this is the reality that Dynamos face today and their nightmarish start to the league championship campaign is put into context by the fact that little Kiglon, where they fished most of their players, have a better points tally than them.
DeMbare were left to do yet another soul searching exercise after defending champions Motor Action roared to a win in this Castle Lager Premier Soccer League game at Rufaro yesterday.
For some Dynamos fans at Rufaro yesterday, there were more clues to why their team fell in Algiers in the African Champions League game against MC Alger, even without blaming the Egyptian referee Fahim Omar.
Dynamos were just out of sorts, and while there is always the risk of judging them too early, it’s becoming increasingly clear that they need to change things quickly to challenge for the league championship.
With city rivals CAPS United having harvested a massive 14 goals in the last three games, pressure is mounting with each game at Dynamos.
Clearly Lloyd Mutasa, for all the promise that his project gave their fans during pre-season, is now living dangerously.
Gift Phiri gave Motor Action the lead in the 39th minute while Edmore Chitato took the stuffing out of Dynamos with a powerful header in the 73rd minute.
The Mighty Bulls could have scored more than four goals had Kuda Musharu and Chitato not missed chances when, twice, Washington Arubi strayed from his line in desperate attempts to narrow the angle.
Both teams went into the match under a lot of pressure and tried to play a cautious game.
The early stages of the game were characterised by sloppy passing and poor moves from both teams.
But it was Motor Action who appeared to settle first and after nine minutes when Allan Gahadzikwa was allowed to glance a free header from an Ocean Mushure free kick on the left side.
Arubi was well on guard while Chitato squared to Isaac Masame who spurned the offer by firing high and wide after 11 minutes.
Archie Gutu exchanged passes with the subdued Denver Mukamba before finding David Kutyauripo whose low shot whistled across the goalmouth with no Glamour Boy to connect in the box.
The Mighty Bulls wasted another fine chance on the quarter hour mark as Gahadzikwa went past Zhokinyi but Phiri blazed over the bar.
But Zhokinyi nearly gave Dynamos the lead when he headed goalwards but goalkeeper Marlon Jani saved.
However, it was Motor Action who created more scoring opportunities with Musharu forcing Arubi to punch the ball back into play after 22 minutes while Patrick Kumbula also failing to score at the other end after failing to direct a free header home from close range.
But just before the breather the Mighty Bulls struck when Dynamos failed to clear their lines, after Gahadzikwa had whipped a ball into the box which Arubi blocked, but Phiri was at hand to drill the ball home.
Lloyd Mutasa pulled out Farayi Vimisayi for Martin Vengesayi at the start of the second half but it was Motor Action who continued to make the better moves as they outplayed Devon Chafa and Tawanda Muparati in midfield for Dynamos.
The only glimmer of hope for Dynamos came when either Gutu or Mukamba made moves but these were few and far between.
Motor Action relied on counter attacks, especially using the left channel where the disappointing Thomas Magorimbo, was just on holiday.
Gutu opened the Motor Action defence and found Kumbula whose effort went wide in the 54th minute as they tried to creep back into the game.
Dynamos were lucky to survive a raid as three Motor Action players came on a counter raid but the Bulls failed to co-ordinate and Gahadzikwa was selfish and drilled wide instead of passing.
Then Zhokinyi needlessly gave away possession and Magorimbo never tried to do a repair job as Godfrey Moyo ran towards the corner flag before whipping a high ball that Chitato nodded past Arubi.
With more than 10 minutes before the end of the game, some Dynamos fans were already making their way out of stadium.
“We failed to play our normal game and made a lot of mistakes.
“Today we did not play as a team but played in patches and created few chances,” said Mutasa.
Mutasa admitted that they entered into the game under some pressure after losing to Kiglon 1-0 in the league and then bowing out of the Champions League.
“We were under some pressure but this is just two games in the season and people should be patient enough,” said Mutasa.
Dynamos are clearly crying for a marksman of repute but Mutasa believes the personnel at his disposal will come right.
“For now it’s back to the drawing board and we should see how we can prepare for the next game.
“I do not want to blame anyone as coach and I should make use with the players at my disposal,” said Mutasa.
While Mutasa was wondering what has gone wrong after a promising run in the pre-season, Joey Antipas was on cloud nine.
After having lost to Dynamos in the last three outings, Antipas said they had done their homework.
“We played to the game plan. The plan was to starve their midfield and close in on Archie and Denver.
“We squeezed them in the midfield and they failed to create space for Denver and Archie and we hit them on counter attacks.
“At least it has taken some pressure off our backs,” said Antipas.
Teams:
Motor Action: M. Jani, O. Mushure, I. Masame, M. Mambure, G. Moyo, T. Ndlovu, E. Chitato, A. Gahadzikwa, G. Phiri, R. Machaya, K. Musharu
Dynamos: W. Arubi, D. Kutyauripo, T. Magorimbo, D. Chafa, G. Zhokinyi, G. Magariro, A. Gutu. D. Mukamba, F. Vumisayi (M. Vengesayi 46th min), T. Muparati (M. Murape 71st min), P. Kumbula (R. Mutuma (57th min).
Castle Premiership Table
Team P W D L F A Pts
CAPS Utd 3 3 0 0 14 5 9
Chicken Inn 3 2 1 0 6 2 7
Motor Action 3 2 1 0 4 0 7
Blue Ribbon 3 2 1 0 6 3 7
FC Platinum 2 2 0 0 5 0 6
Masvingo 3 1 2 0 2 1 5
Highlanders 3 1 1 1 3 1 4
Kiglon 3 1 1 1 1 1 4
Monoz 3 1 1 1 1 3 4
Zim Saints 3 1 0 2 5 7 3
Black Mambas 3 1 0 2 4 2 3
Gunners 3 0 2 1 0 2 2
Hwange 3 0 2 1 2 1 2
Dynamos 2 0 0 2 0 3 0
Shooting Stars 3 0 0 3 3 9 0
Shabanie 3 0 3 3 0 9 0
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