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had been winless in five matches, at Sakubva on Wednesday.
The 2-3 defeat was the first loss by the Glamour Boys in the Castle Lager Premiership race this season and ended their hopes of completing the first half of the campaign unbeaten.
It was only the fifth league defeat by the champions in 55 league matches since Pasuwa took over as head coach from his close friend Lloyd Mutasa in August 2011 and rescued a campaign for the title that had gone off the rails.
It was also the first league defeat for Pasuwa and his men in 21 league games, stretching from September last year, when they lost 0-1 to Chicken Inn in Bulawayo.
Under Pasuwa’s tutelage, the Glamour Boys have now played 55 league matches, won 36, drawn 14, lost five, scored 101 goals, conceded 28 and have an impressive 122 points from a possible 165 points.
Pasuwa’s has an impressive 73.93 percent success rate, in league matches, since becoming head coach at DeMbare.
The Glamour Boys, though, are five points adrift of their tally, at the same stage of the season, when compared to last year when they became champions.
They have won three fewer games (six), drawn four more games (seven) and lost one fewer game compared to at the same stage last season.
They have also scored six less goals (20 compared to 26) and their defence has conceded one more goal, when compared to at the same stage last season.
DeMbare’s surprise loss at Buffaloes was made to taste even bitter because their city rivals CAPS United had secured a priceless 2-0 victory over Hwange.
The Glamour Boys’ fans also felt this was a lost opportunity, considering that leaders Highlanders had dropped three points, to cover up for ground lost when they began the season with a string of draws.
The Herald was informed yesterday that the DeMbare founding fathers wanted an explanation, from Pasuwa and his technical team, about how the team crumbled to that surprise defeat in Mutare.
DeMbare, though, have carried the biggest weight from the Warriors’ World Cup assignments, contributing more players to the team than any of their local rivals and some of their key personnel, like defender Ocean Mushure and the outstanding devon Chafa, only arrived in Harare on Tuesday, a day before the match against Buffaloes.
Given the chaos that characterised the Warriors’ trip, and the effects the nightmare had on the players, it would probably have made sense for the teams that provided key personnel to that tour of duty to play on Thursday rather than Wednesday.
DeMbare had also paid a big price, for the cause of the nation, with key central defender, Partson Jaure, injured during the tie against Egypt.
Yesterday, Pasuwa rested most of the players, who did duty in Mutare, but said he was taking the defeat in his stride, because it was all part of the game of football.
The former Dynamos utility player has led the Harare giants to back-to-back league championships and success in the Mbada Diamonds Cup and are still on course for a third straight league title.
Buffaloes’ win, with 10-men, has now set the stage for a potentially explosive BancABC Sup8r quarter-final between the two teams at Gibbo on June 30.
Pasuwa yesterday said a defeat for Dynamos in the league was bound to happen one day and they have now shifted focus to their next match against How Mine, whom they will play in back-to-back fixtures.
“The defeat came unexpectedly for the players but it was bound to come one day,” said Pasuwa.
“I even told the players before the match not to underrate any team. Now we got a defeat from one of the most unlikely of opponents.
“In football, there are three results – a win, a draw or a defeat.”
Pasuwa condemned the state of the pitch at Sakubva and criticised the antics employed by the home team to frustrate them.
“Before the game, I inspected the pitch during warm-up and observed it was in a poor state,” said Pasuwa.
“Sometimes, I wish we could have a feel of the away match venues maybe a day before the game.
“We could not play our normal game but had to rely on second balls, where we pumped high balls into their half and then try to press from there.
“So, in terms of power play, we were also coming out second best.”
Towards the end of the match, Dynamos claim Buffaloes withdrew the ball-boys.
“Our players like Murape (Murape) and (George) Chigova had to literally run around to retrieve the ball for Buffaloes once it went out of play.
“But, as Dynamos, there are more challenges that we were expecting to face, especially in away games, and we should be prepared for them.
“We are going to play more away games during the second half and we should brace ourselves for such challenges,” he said.
However, Pasuwa said he was not looking for any excuses for the defeat and has told his players to rise and focus on the next assignment.
“I will not look for any excuses but we failed to play and defensively, on our part, we were not compact,” said Pasuwa.
The Harare giants missed Jaure, Chafa and Tawanda Muparati, their three best players this season, from the starting XI.
Dynamos started chasing the game right from the second minute after Wonder Sithole opened the vistors’ defence to beat Chigova, who had kept seven clean sheets this season in the league.
But the champions evened the scores when referee Langton Chitsa awarded a penalty that Clive Kawinga scored.
Former CAPS United striker Washington Pakamisa gave Dynamos the advantage before Stephen Sibanda equalised for the hosts.
Chitsa awarded another penalty to Dynamos but Kawinga missed and Buffaloes, who had been reduced to 10-men after Themba Sibanda was shown red, continued to soldier on before Sibanda scored the winner.
“Had we taken the lead after being awarded the penalty, maybe we could have won,” said Pasuwa.
“Clive took the first penalty and he scored although the goalkeeper (Chengetai Tandadzai) nearly stopped it.
“We got a second penalty and Clive went for the same side and the keeper this time managed to stop it.
“We cannot fault Kawinga for the miss because it happens in football.
“As a team we created our chances and we missed.”
While Pasuwa was trying to come to terms with the defeat, Buffaloes coach Timothy Masachi had boosted his CV after his giant-killing act.
It was Masachi’s first game in charge after he took over from Saul Chaminuka who has now joined CAPS United.
“I think the boys had a great fighting spirit especially after we were a man down. Everyone played to cover for the missing man,” said Masachi.
“In life there is always a first time for everything and Highlanders last year went for 23 matches without defeat but then lost against Monoz.”
Masachi said claims by Dynamos that Sakubva was in deplorable state were just a case of sour grapes.
“Last year the same Dynamos came to Sakubva and won 2-0, but they never complained and we lost 3-0 in Harare. At times I am surprised at people who complain about Sakubva yet we meet almost the same conditions in some of our away matches,” he said.
Online Reporter