NGEZI Platinum Stars coach Tonderai Ndiraya has admitted his side has established potential title credentials, but played down any talk of his team being crowned champions as yet.
BY HENRY MHARA
The Mhondoro-Ngezi side remained top of the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League log, two matches into the second half of the season, following their 4-1 demolition of Hwange at Baobab Stadium on Sunday.
They have 37 points, two clear of FC Platinum and Chicken Inn, who have both played a game less, while Dynamos are not far off the pace, at 33 points with two games in hand.
Kelvin Kaindu’s How Mine have the same number of points as Dynamos.
Ndiraya is delighted by his team’s form, having also racked up four goals past sixth-placed Black Rhinos in their previous match, but dismissed league title talk as premature.
“This is an open race and we are not taking about that yet because there are still a lot of games to be played. We are only concentrating on what we have control of and what we can control at the moment is the games especially those we play at home,” Ndiraya said.
“We want to try and collect as many points as possible. If we are to harbour any chances of getting the crown, that means we have to be good here at home and away.
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“I’m glad that in the past two games, we have done that and I would wish we continue like that in the following games.
“But we will need to work for the results, especially away from home, and we will try as much as possible to do that so that we keep pace with the top teams and see where we are at the end of the season.”
Ngezi are yet to taste defeat at home, winning seven matches and drawing three at their Baobab Stadium, form that excites Ndiraya.
They have picked just 12 points from a possible 24 on the road this season.
“It’s an issue of belief in the boys when they play at home. It’s quite difficult for them to lose a match. The vigour, the fighting spirit, and the commitment is quite different when they play at home so I believe if they put more when we are away, I’m sure we can talk of something at the end of the season,” Ndiraya said.
“We have to work on our mentality because when we are away, the boys tend to lose it mentally, so we need to work on that and get some points especially in our next encounter against How Mine. It would be a very difficult match against a very good team, coached by a very good coach so we will need to plan well.”
Having scored a total 25 goals in the first half of the season, but just two games into the reverse fixtures, Ngezi have already plundered eight including against a title contender.
“In the first half of the season, we were creating so many chances, but we couldn’t score. Now we are using a number nine and things seem to be going good for us,” Ndiraya said.
“We seem to be getting goals from midfield because the top man would be helping the other guys. It was not the case in the first half of the season, where we were playing a false number nine and created so many chances, but, unfortunately, we couldn’t score.
“Scoring eight goals in two matches is good, and scoring four away from home (against Rhinos) was amazing.”
