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Harrison sets Harare City survival target

Sport
Harare City coach Mark Harrison is targeting to amass at least 40 points this season, a feat which he believes will be enough to keep the club safe from relegation. City managed just 38 points last year, which was not enough to save them from the chop.

Harare City coach Mark Harrison is targeting to amass at least 40 points this season, a feat which he believes will be enough to keep the club safe from relegation. City managed just 38 points last year, which was not enough to save them from the chop.

BY HENRY MHARA

They were only re-admitted into the top-flight two weeks before the start of the current season, which kicked off at the weekend, after How Mine pulled out.

Harrison, previously a technical director at the club, took over the reins from axed coach Philani Ncube, following the relegation.

The Englishman, despite getting the nod to play in the league at the last minute, believes he has a good squad capable of surviving the chop.

“My target is 40 points to try and keep the team in the league and that’s the first thing we need to do. After that, we look at what’s left to do,” he said.

“I’m confident with the players we have got. We have assembled a good squad, and when we got back into the Premier league, we acquired two experienced players at the last minute in Elisha Muroiwa and Kuda (Musharu), which was a big plus for us.”

Other high-profile players that the team acquired include Moses Muchenje, from Caps United.

The Sunshine Boys, who put up a good showing to draw 0-0 against Caps United in their season opener at the weekend, play Bulawayo City next, who will arrive at Rufaro Stadium on Saturday with their tails up following their 2-0 win over Chapungu.

“Bulawayo City got a great result last week, so they will be buzzing, will come full of confidence so I envisage a tough game. It’s two cities playing against each other, so there is always something on it,” Harrison said.

Harrison did attempt to play down the pressure facing his team after what happened last year.

“But I’m not putting any pressure on to the team, we need to go out there and try to play our normal game, our brand of football and see if we can take three points. I believe that when athletes are under pressure, they don’t perform so we need to give them a good environment to perform. We will always try to take three points and if we cannot, we try to take a point,” Harrison said.

“We need to impose ourselves on the opposition. We will, slowly but surely we will do that. We are still work in progress. We have made a lot of changes this season. We were thrown back into the PSL at the last minute, so our preparations were adjusted but we are moving in the right direction. We will get better.”

Captain Tendai Samanja and winger Malvern Gaki started training this week after recovering from injuries that saw them missing the United match, but Harrison said the Saturday match could come a bit too early for the duo.

Muroiwa and goalkeeper Ryan Harrison, who is Mark’s son, were also heavily involved at the team’s session yesterday, but they are yet to receive their international transfer certificates (international reverse clearances) to feature for the club.