Chronicle Editor
Innocent Kurira, Sports Reporter
IT turned out to be a sad return to local elite football league coaching duties for Philani “Beefy” Ncube who is now Arenel Movers assistant coach as he watched his new side let go a one goal lead to lose against visiting Telone in a Castle Lager Premier Soccer League encounter yesterday.
Though Ncube watched the game from the terraces, Arenel head coach Farai Tawachera confirmed that Ncube is now part of their team before the game.
Arenel went in front with just eight minutes on the clock through an Eriya Mafirenyika own goal off a Brian Ngwenya corner kick.
Llyod Gwerina levelled matters 10 minutes after the break with a clinical finish from inside the box.He had been fed by substitute Collins Chidomaya.
Mafirenyika, who appeared to be in an offside position, made up for his first half blunder by getting the winner for Telone, five minutes before full time.
He slotted home from close range.
Arenel coach Tawachera was not pleased with the result and with the way his team played.
“In terms of fitness levels we are not there, we were not there, l think we are around 60-70% fit. When they made their three substitutions we started slagging, they added firepower. We tried to defend but you could tell that we were struggling. We also tried to make some substitutions in our central corridor but still, they had better quality than us. We need to raise our fitness levels up because we are not there. During the three week break we only trained two hours before we went to Simba Bhora.
“The players are not that professional, they don’t know that this is their job, when you are on a break you work and you can see the fitness levels. They (TelOne) were sharper than us, some teams made use of the three weeks to really work on their fitness but we didn’t realise that. We need to push because we are now on Week 16, if we give up then we are in trouble but if we push we will come back. Before the break we were almost there but during the break we went home, everyone went home, the executive, the players, everyone just went home,” said Tawachera.
His opposite number Herbert Maruwa was pleased with the victory.
“We did not play well in the first half but l am happy we managed to pick ourselves up in the second half and we managed to get three points. We now have to forget about this game and focus on the next one,” said Maruwa.
Arenel Movers are still rooted at the bottom of the log and they are tied on 11 points with second from the bottom placed Hwange who meet Highlanders tomorrow at Barbourfields Stadium.
Courtesy of the three points they earned, TelOne are now on 16 points and they are on position 14.Salaries discontents have over the months punctuated Arenel Movers camp.
Online Reporter