Dynamos take aim at City

By The NewsDay | Apr. 25, 2015 | 3 Min read

HARARE CITY’S performance last season was so horrible that it seems almost ludicrous that they were the same side that battled for the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League supremacy the previous year.

BY HENRY MHARA

Since their mind-blowing displays two years ago when they were painfully elbowed out of the podium by Dynamos having gone into the final round of matches on top position, their performance took a massive nosedive last season.

They had to win their last match to survive relegation. Their performance this season, while incomparable with that horror show of 2013, has not been very pleasing considering they were one of the busiest teams in the last players’ transfer window, together with How Mine, snapping up talents like Tendai Samanja, Tafadzwa Dube and former Dynamos hardman Themba Ndhlovu.

A scrappy 2-1 win over FC Platinum on Wednesday represents a step forward for the Taurai Mangwiro-coached side who had previously collected just five points from a possible 12 in the new campaign.

While the Wednesday win gave Mangwiro some kind of relief, the highly-rated gaffer will know more about his side’s current well-being when flourishing champions Dynamos visit at Rufaro Stadium this afternoon.

Interestingly, Mangwiro does not rate Dynamos highly despite his poor record against the Harare giants.

“I don’t think we will have problems with Dynamos,” was Mangwiro’s bold assertion after his last win. “FC Platinum posed more threat to us than Dynamos.”

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Ahead of this afternoon’s smaller version of the rather now tired but bigger Harare Derby, Mangwiro sounded extremely confident of victory and is happy with the strides that his side has made in the last few weeks.

“The team is taking shape and it’s important that as we get along with the season we grind results. I think we have recovered well having lost the first match to Tsholotsho, we have gone four matches unbeaten and it’s still work in progress. We are right on track,” said Mangwiro.

History is heavily tilted against Mangwiro and Harare City when it comes to clashes against Dynamos. It’s almost embarrassing. In the last two seasons that Mangwiro was with Caps United before jumping ship to join his current club at the start of this campaign, he never won against Dynamos in league meetings.

City has managed just one victory in six meetings, a record that Mangwiro and his new side would be looking to improve come kick off at 3pm.

Dynamos on the other hand are looking intimidating.

Four wins and a draw has been their proud record so far as they sit pretty at the top of the log, a position they share with leaders Triangle. Both are on 13 points but, Kelvin Kaindu’s side are top as they have a superior goal difference having banged in 14 and conceded juts three while Dynamos have scored seven and let in one.

They are not very sharp upfront though, scoring six in five games, an average of a goal per game, with star man Ronald Chitiyo normally rescuing situations.

It has been a cautious approach to the game by the new technical team led by David Mandigora, which fortunately for him has been producing the needed results. Mandigora does not intend to dump his defensive system anytime soon.

“We have prepared well for the match, which we know will not be easy. Harare City are on a revival but we have also been doing well. We will approach the match like we have done in the previous matches and hopefully we will collect maximum points,” Mandigora said yesterday.

Mandigora said he is still sweating over the injuries of left backs-cum-attackers Ocean Mushure and Qadr Amini who have missed the team’s last two matches while goalkeeper Tatenda Mukuruva and defender Blessing Moyo are also injury worries.

The teams’ two league meetings last season produced an enormous 12 goals with Dynamos getting eight in their back to back 5-3 and 3-1 wins, so those that will be at Rufaro Stadium should expect goals galore this afternoon.