BY TAWANDA TAFIRENYIKA
NEW Caps United coach Darlington Dodo has said it will be business as usual at the Green Machine who face a big test in their travel to Ascot Stadium this weekend for a tricky clash against Chapungu.
Following the departure of Lloyd Chitembwe, the unassuming Dodo believes he has the capacity to maintain the Harare giants’ push for the title.
Chitembwe left the Green Machine last week to join rivals Harare City and took with him technical director Nelson Matongerere.
The former Caps coach, who led the club to the championship in 2016 for the first time since 2005, left the team in a strong position to challenge for the title.
Caps edged Bulawayo giants Highlanders 2-1 at the weekend to take their points tally to 34 from 19 matches, one behind leaders FC Platinum.
Dodo however, feels there is nothing much that has changed because he has been in the system as one of Chitembwe’s assistants.
He said he was not new to the system and would simply carry on from where Chitembwe left. “I am not new to the system. I have been here for quite some time and am used to the environment. I know all the players. I benefited a lot from Lloyd and he also benefited from me. It was good to work together and I am going to build on what we have achieved already,” Dodo said.
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The former Tsholotsho coach who has also coached in Botswana said they have been working to correct the mistakes they made when they lost 1-2 to Chapungu in the reverse fixture in Harare.
“We lost to Chapungu, but we have done our corrections and are now looking forward to meeting them again. Morale is very high in camp and am optimistic we will get a good result,” Dodo said.
The defeat to Chapungu brought an end to Caps’s unbeaten start to the campaign while it propelled the Airforce side to the top of the summit.
The Harare giants had raced into the lead, courtesy of Gabriel Nyoni before Chapungu picked themselves up to restore parity on the stroke of half time through Brighton Mugoni. Patrick Khumbula then grabbed the winner for the Gweru side, early into the second half.
The Rodwell Dhlakama-coached side has, however, dipped in form recently and is lying in ninth position on the standings with 25 points from 19 matches – a far cry from the side that appeared to be ready to challenge for honours. They have won one match, drawn two and lost two in their last five matches of the campaign.
However, for a team that travelled to Harare to edge army side Black Rhinos 2-1 at the weekend, they pose a real threat to Caps’ title ambitions.
