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Dynamos struggle

Sport
DYNAMOS were made to wait longer before collecting their first set of three points this season after coming from behind to salvage a draw against a determined Chicken Inn side in a Castle Lager Premier Soccer League

DYNAMOS were made to wait longer before collecting their first set of three points this season after coming from behind to salvage a draw against a determined Chicken Inn side in a Castle Lager Premier Soccer League match played at Rufaro Stadium yesterday.

REPORT BY DANIEL NHAKANISO

Chicken Inn winger Tendai Ndoro opened the scoring for the visiting side with a close-range finish at the far post in the 17th minute before midfielder Cliff Sekete headed home the equaliser just before the half-hour mark.

Dynamos could, however, not find the winner as their goal-shy strikers continued to struggle in front of goal much to the frustration of the home fans. The Harare giants have now drawn their first two matches of the season after last week’s one-all draw away to Black Mambas.

Alarm bells could start ringing in the Dynamos camp as they have not won a competitive match since beating minnows Lesotho Correctional Services (LCS) on February 17 in the first leg of the preliminary round of the African Champions League.

Dynamos coach Kalisto Pasuwa, however, said admitted that his team had started the season slower than expected, but added that it was too early to start pressing the panic button.

“It’s a very slow start in terms of the way we were planning to start our campaign. We are getting in the scoring positions, but we are not getting the goals. Luck is not our side, but we will try to get the three points next time,” said Pasuwa.

Chicken Inn coach Mandla Mpofu said his team had grown in confidence after realising that Dynamos were not offering much when going forward.

“We were very cautious in the first 10 minutes or so, but we saw that Dynamos were not coming at us and we took them on. Unfortunately, when we took the lead we went on to miss some crucial chances.

“If we had taken those chances, I can safely say we could have buried them in the first half, but it’s just unfortunate we couldn’t. We could have avoided that goal we conceded as it was just a case of poor defending. Those are the grey areas we now have to work on going forward, but I think we are in the right direction,” said Mpofu.

Chicken Inn were the first to settle in the match as Dynamos were hardly a threat in attack with the makeshift central defence of Augustine Mbara and Gift Bello struggling to contain the visiting attack.

The Gamecocks almost took the lead in the sixth minute, but were denied by Dynamos goalkeeper Artwell Mukandi who pulled a sharp save to stop a close-range shot from Tendai Mukambi.

Mukandi could, however, do nothing to deny Ndoro after the speedy winger was left unmarked at the far post in the 15th minute to easily convert from an acute angle.

Dynamos almost fell further behind in the 20th minute, but Mukandi yet again came to their rescue to deny Mkhokheli Dube who had connected a cross by Ndoro from the right.

After a period of dominance, Dynamos slowly began coming back into the game and were rewarded in the 29th minute when Sekete ghosted in from the right to head home from close range a cross by left-back Ocean Mushure.

Chicken Inn goal minder Liberty Chiwara would come to his team’s rescue five minute later after producing a brilliant reaction save to tip over Patrick Khumbula’s close-range header.

The second half would be a tale of missed chances for the home side with the strike force not utilising the constant supply of crosses from the flanks with the big Francisco Zekumbawira hardly a threat in the air.

Even the introduction of Washington Pakamisa for Khumbula could not yield the desired results while Russel Madamombe, who later came in for Tawanda Muparati, was also ineffective.

Teams Dynamos: A Mukandi, C Sekete, M Murape (R Madamombe, 67), F Zekumbawira, A Mbara, T Magorimbo, T Muparati (A Tavarwisa, 87), G Bello, D Chafa, O Mushure, P Khumbula (Pakamisa, 60) Chicken Inn: L Chirava, M Jackson, F Chindungwe, Z Ngodzo, B Mbiriri, D Phiri, T Ndoro (K Mahachi, 75), C Nkomo, T Goredema (B Juru, 88), T Mukambi, M Dube