Vusumuzi Dube
Gerald Sibanda
HWANGE Football Club have been struggling to perform at home and their captain Kelly Shiyandindi says the break will be vital in changing that.
Their last home win was against Cranborne Bullets, but it was at Luveve Stadium as their stadium, the Colliery had not yet been certified to be having the right standards for PSL matches.
Since they have been given the green light to play host to matches, they have lost twice at home, 3-0 to Bulawayo Chiefs and 1-0 defeat to Manica Diamonds.
They will have to wait at least one more week to be able to play at home as they travel to Ngezi to play table toppers, Ngezi Platinum.
Club captain, Kelly Shiyandindi said the break gave them time to prepare and get used to their home ground.
“The break has helped us to regain our focus and prepare for upcoming matches. We are travelling to Ngezi this week and it’s not going to be an easy match considering the form they are in, but we hope that on the following home match against ZPC Kariba, we will use the most of our home advantage since we have had a chance to prepare for matches without having any pressure and to get used to our pitch, especially for the guys who joined the team this year.”
On the impact of the break, he said: “We have got players like Brighton Makopa who have been doing well for the team, but we can only hope that they carry that good form to the matches after the break, as the attitude has been positive throughout our recent training sessions.”
Shiyandindi, who has only missed one match through suspension will also hope that his reliability will help the team, which sits on 10th position on the log table to get a positive result as a win could lift them up to seventh position.
The former Bosso90 and Ajax Hotspurs defender, who in his second year with the Nation Dube coached side also captained the team to promotion from the Southern Region Division One last season also said that the main target for him is to help the team maintain its status in the Premier League.
“The plan is to make sure that the team stays in top-flight football for another year, we will not get carried away by the other matches we have won before and forget our main target.”
With a tough match against the table toppers, the coal miners will hope that their top players like the golden boot contestant Brighton Makopa, will be on top of their game.
Online Reporter