admin
Ray Bande
Senior Reporter
DYNAMOS and Manica Diamonds players will troop into Sakubva Stadium on Sunday knowing very well that a defeat for either team will deepen the fissures already existing between their coaches and fans as well as leadership at both clubs.
There is certainly more than three points at stake for both teams as Sunday’s clash could be about saving the jobs of either Dynamos coach, Tonderai Ndiraya or Manica Diamonds’ Johanisi Nhumwa.
DeMbare fans staged a demonstration at the National Sports Stadium in Harare last weekend barricading the team inside the dressing room, demanding the sacking of Ndiraya after their faint hopes of catching up with log leaders, FC Platinum were extinguished by the 0-1 defeat to Ngezi Platinum Stars.
Dynamos who had a chance of reducing the points gap against FC Platinum to eight points after the platinum miners win over Bulawayo City last week on Saturday fell to an early first half strike from Delic Murimba who found the target three minutes into the match leaving them 11 points off the mark with six matches before the end of the season.
DeMbare who are still searching their first league title since 2014 also found themselves dropping into third position, a point behind Chicken Inn who beat WhaWha last week on Saturday.
The fans felt Ndiraya has failed the team, surrendering the lead in the first half of the season and allowed FC Platinum to take control of the title race in the crucial decisive second half of the campaign.
It is a similar script for Manica Diamonds coach, Nhumwa whose brilliant start to the season created great expectations among the club’s growing fan base as well as football followers in Manicaland in general.
After occupying the upper echelons of the log table for a number of months and the top position for weeks, the Gem Boys suddenly lost the rhythm and started dropping points including in some matches they were least expected to do so.
Calls for the coach to be relieved off his duties grew louder with each passing week and at one point the club executive moved in with an ultimatum for Nhumwa which he managed to beat in terms of points he was required to accrue in a number of matches.
However, the Gem Boys’ free fall did not stop!
To date, at MatchDay 28, Manica Diamonds are in a distant ninth position and a massive 22 points adrift the log leaders and defending champions, FC Platinum.
Nhumwa said: “Yes, the pressure is there. When you have been getting good results and suddenly you start posting poor results there is bound to be some pressure that comes with every match that you then have to play.
“This is all because of the injuries that affected us along the way. The good thing for now is that we now have Eriya Mafirenyika, Liberty Chakoroma and Lloyd Katongomara back and fit to play.”
Nhumwa thinks the top four target is still within reach.
“We still have six matches to play and I have no doubt that we can still achieve the things that we set out to achieve from the onset. If we manage to beat Dynamos on Sunday we will move on with confidence and reclaim our place among the top four teams,” said Nhumwa in a telephone interview from his Masvingo home early this week before joining the team in training in Mutare on Tuesday.
He lamented on his team’s recent poor conversion rate.
“We are playing well and creating scoring chances, but somehow we are failing to find the target. Just like on Sunday in Bulawayo, we played very well, but somehow could not score and we ended up losing the match because of other reasons apart from our performance on the field of play.
“The failure to convert has been one of our major setbacks. We still continue working on that and hope we will find the right formula to improve on precision,” he said.
Speaking soon after the match on Sunday, Ndiraya said he understood the supporters’ frustration.
“The fans want us to win each and every game, but football doesn’t work that way. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose some,” Ndiraya said.
“I understand their agony, I understand their disappointment. They wanted us to continue piling pressure on FC Platinum, but we couldn’t do that. They are justified to be so disappointed in the manner they are. It is normal in any football institution,” he said.
Online Reporter