Dynamos . . . . . . . . . 0 Harare City . . . . . . . 0
DYNAMOS hit a large pothole that threw their title defence off balance, as Harare City threw a spanner in the works holding them to a draw in a Castle Lager Premiership tie at Rufaro Stadium yesterday.
BY TAWANDA TAFIRENYIKA The defending champions went into the match seeking maximum points to close in on log leaders Chicken Inn and second-placed FC Platinum, who won their respective matches on Saturday.
They carved out good chances and appeared on course for a routine victory that could have kept them firmly in the race, but they proved to be masters of their own downfall, as they wasted the plenty opportunities that came their way. Roderick Mutuma and Takesure Chinyama came close on several occasions, but appeared to lack imagination in the final third.
Harare City had beautiful movement in the second half, with Martin Vengesayi’s pace, appearing to trouble the Harare giants. Nathan Ziwini, who came in for William Manondo on 53 minutes had his effort saved by Dynamos goalkeeper Tatenda Mukuruva in the 56th minute. The two teams could, however, not be separated at the final whistle.
But the result left Dynamos six points off the pace.
Chicken Inn, who staged one of the greatest comeback stories in football to score two goals in three minutes and beat How Mine 2-1, now have 52 points, while FC Platinum, who overcame WhaWha 3-0 remain second with 48 points, with five matches left in the campaign.
With a date against old enemy Caps United up next, Dynamos coach Tonderai Ndiraya said the championship was now for Chicken Inn and FC Platinum to lose.
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“Our strikers were off today, they were off duty. I thought we controlled the game. Most parts of the game, we were in control. We created lots of chances, plenty of them, but we could not put them away,” he said.
“I think we dominated the whole match. The guys fought hard. They did everything to win the match, but it wasn’t our day. I think we have one of the most reliable strike forces in the country in Takesure and Roderick. They tried their best today, they got into scoring positions, but here we are at the end of the day, we have nothing. They did their best and that is football. We just have to move on.
“We will keep fighting. We still have five games to go, but like I said in previous interviews, it’s not in our hands anymore and we would still want to continue pushing hard and see where we are at the end of the season. It’s for FC Platinum and Chicken Inn to lose. But we are not throwing in the towel yet. We will keep fighting, working hard until we finish our games,” he added.
Harare City assistant coach said he was happy with a point and remained confident of a top four finish.
“We are happy with a point away from home, although we could have got all three points in the second half. We had a couple of chances; if we had put them in the score line could have been different.
“We didn’t have much of a good first half and I think our boys came lively in the second half. We put in some ball players in midfield and they had some good exchanges there and I think we took control of the midfield in the second half,” he said.
