Caps in turmoil

Harare City 1 0 Caps United
CAPS United's chances of progressing to the quarter-finals of the Chibuku Super Cup were left hanging in the balance while alarm bells have started to toll once again for their coach Darlington Dodo.

The Green Machine fans are getting agitated over the team's poor form after it lost its second match in Group 1 of the competition, which left it sitting on fourth position, while their opponents leapt to second place behind Dynamos.

Dynamos lead the pack with 17 points, while Harare City sit second with nine, one ahead of Yadah and two more than Caps.

Caps United needed at least a point to remain in contention, but a second half goal by defender Marshal Machazane left the Green Machine staring at the exit in the early stages of the competition.

After a huge investment which saw them sign a number of top players, a lot is expected of Caps, but so far, they have done little to justify the transfer activity.

They can still salvage a place in the quarter-finals if they win their matches against Herentals, ZPC Kariba and Dynamos.

Dodo said they would fight to the bitter end.

"We still have three matches to go, you never know what will happen," he said.

"I am going to urge the boys to pick it up from where they left in the first half. I thought we started the way we wanted. We kept possession and created chances, but we couldn't convert. Scoring is the missing link in our game. It was painful to lose the way we did because we created chances especially in the first half."

His counterpart Lloyd Chitembwe was pleased that his team managed to come out and collect maximum points despite limited training time due to remuneration issues.

"The result was very important to us, especially considering that we trained for less than 12 hours. I am happy with what I saw today," he said.

"We worked hard on set pieces and I am happy that we got a goal through what we worked for. We are in good space at the moment and we are very happy."

Yesterday, Caps United came up against their former coach, who is also looking to make a mark at his club, and the Green Machine failed to outwit their ex-boss.

Caps created a handful of chances in the second half, having spent as dreadful first half as their speedsters Ian Nyoni and Phenias Bamusi were shackled.

Harare City defenders sat deep, denying the speed merchants running space.

Nyoni almost carved out an opportunity for Caps after he was given rare space in a fast break, but an attempted pull back was thwarted by Machazane.

In the second half, Nyoni enjoyed more runs in the Harare City half and it was only when he carried the ball that Caps United looked threatening.

After one of his runs, substitute Tatenda Tuba squandered what was probably Caps United's best chance as they sought an equaliser.

Meanwhile, Clive Rupiya and Jerry Chipangura kept the Caps United defence on its toes in both halves.

The two combined well, but took turns to miss good opportunities, particularly, Chipangura.

Chipangura could have given his side the lead a few minutes before the break after Rupiya had bulldozed his way into the box, but was thwarted by goalkeeper Tatenda Munditi.

It was some minutes after the break that Harare City broke the deadlock through Machazane's header off a corner kick.

Caps did all they could through John Zhuwawu and Simba Nhivi with about 20 minutes to go, but all that had no effect.