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Tadious Manyepo Sports Reporter
WARRIORS utility player Jordan Zemura says he will keep his eyes on the ball after receiving rave reviews from his Bournemouth coach Scott Parker.
The praise followed Zemura’s flawless showing in the English Championship football opening day draw against West Bromwich Albion on Friday night.
The match finished in a 2-2 draw.
That the 21-year-old Zimbabwean was thrown into the fray after Jack Stacey failed a late fitness test seemed to spur Zemura who was directly involved in the Cherries second goal of the evening put away by Philip Billing in the second half.
And Parker reserved special mention for the Bournemouth Academy graduate in a post-match interview with online publication DorsetLive.
“I thought he (Zemura) done very well. I thought he relished that challenge,” said Parker.
“I thought he was very good going forward, he assisted or certainly had an impact in the goal, the second goal. I thought he defended very well as well to be fair, not the tallest and when the ball is coming in and around the box, you need to have a desire and endeavour about you and he showed that, definitely. I was pleased with him.”
And Zemura said he will continue working hard in training.
“Firstly, I am very happy with the way everything unfolded in the evening although we failed to collect the maximum points,” said Zemura.
“Being picked to play in such a big encounter against the Baggies is a huge vote of confidence from your coach, just to start with.
“When I was selected in the match-day squad I knew I had a chance to play and mentally I was very much prepared.
“I was part of all the action in the pre-season and physically I am also up there but I would like to thank my coach for the faith he showed in thrusting me in the game against West Brom.
“West Brom are always a threat but I am happy we managed to neutralise them.
“It also feels great to be praised by your coach. I am humbled with his (Parker’s) comments on me and the team after that match. You feel great and you feel even more energetic to go on and give another top display.
“The only way I can repay my coach is by playing good football in the coming matches, by working hard at training.
“At the end of the day, we know our vision as a club and we have to play to the best of our abilities, as a club to achieve our targets.
“It was a decent showing and we have to take it a gear up in our next assignments.”
Having failed to re-gain promotion into the English Premiership via play-offs which were won by Brentford, Bournemouth are expected to mount a serious challenge for automatic promotion into the English Premier League this season.
This is in part, one of the reasons they brought former Fullham manager Parker to lead their changing room and Zemura is dreaming to be part of the sweet story, if written successfully.
Zemura has earned two caps with the Zimbabwe senior national team.
He started both the back-to-back 2021 Afcon qualifiers against Algeria in November last year.
Although he is played as a left-back at Bournemouth, Warriors coach Zdravko Logarusic deployed him as a left-sided midfielder in both those encounters in which the Warriors lost 1-3 away before forcing a 2-2 draw at home, a point which ultimately helped them clinch the ticket to the Afcon finals which will be played in Cameroon next year.
The youngster is also expected to be part of the Warriors team for the 2022 World Cup qualifiers against South Africa and Ethiopia next month.
Ghana are also in the same group.
Online Reporter