News / National
Dembare not giving up title fight
07 Sep 2022 at 01:44hrs | Views
Dynamos coach Tonderai Ndiraya believes his team still has a fighting chance of landing the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League title after a hard fought 2-1 victory over Harare City at the National Sports Stadium in Harare on Sunday.
The win saw Dynamos reduce FC Platinum's lead in the title race to six points with eight matches left.
FC Platinum had collected maximum points against Manica Diamonds the previous day.
Last week, the Glamour Boys, in search of their first league title since 2014, failed to capitalise on a rare slip up by defending champions FC Platinum who were held by Ngezi Platinum at Babobab Stadium as they also played a goalless draw away at ZPC Kariba.
Over the weekend, the Zvishavane-based side claimed a comfortable 2-0 win over Manica Diamonds and remain favourites to retain the league title.
But Ndiraya is not giving up the fight yet.
"The fight continues, what is important for us is to keep putting pressure on the team at the top. We have maintained that gap and I am also happy that the three points today have also taken us a little bit away from Chicken Inn, so we need to keep the focus," he said.
"But the games are still there and there is no room for us to slip up now. We just need to get the points in each and every game that we are going to play. There are no easy matches ahead of us and we just have to keep the fight. What is important is the result," Ndiraya added.
Dynamos have 49 points from 26 matches, while FC Platinum are on 55 points but it's the Harare side which has tougher fixtures in the next two game weeks.
They play inform Black Rhinos away at Vhengere next before hosting Ngezi Platinum Stars, while Norman Mapeza's men play struggling sides WhaWha and Bulawayo City.
However, at this stage of the season, teams who are fighting relegation can pose a real threat as they fight for survival.
In the last game, Ndiraya suggested that Dynamos and FC Platinum matches should be played at the same time and attributed his team's lethargic performance to the pressure of playing after their rival had already won their game.
Ndiraya was also not pleased after his team's run of five matches without conceding a goal ended with a Donald Mudadi strike for Harare City over the weekend.
"I am quite disappointed by the goal that we conceded, a soft goal quite unusual of us to concede such a goal. But that is football and we knew at some point we were going to concede after notching some clean sheets," he said.
The win saw Dynamos reduce FC Platinum's lead in the title race to six points with eight matches left.
FC Platinum had collected maximum points against Manica Diamonds the previous day.
Last week, the Glamour Boys, in search of their first league title since 2014, failed to capitalise on a rare slip up by defending champions FC Platinum who were held by Ngezi Platinum at Babobab Stadium as they also played a goalless draw away at ZPC Kariba.
Over the weekend, the Zvishavane-based side claimed a comfortable 2-0 win over Manica Diamonds and remain favourites to retain the league title.
But Ndiraya is not giving up the fight yet.
"The fight continues, what is important for us is to keep putting pressure on the team at the top. We have maintained that gap and I am also happy that the three points today have also taken us a little bit away from Chicken Inn, so we need to keep the focus," he said.
"But the games are still there and there is no room for us to slip up now. We just need to get the points in each and every game that we are going to play. There are no easy matches ahead of us and we just have to keep the fight. What is important is the result," Ndiraya added.
Dynamos have 49 points from 26 matches, while FC Platinum are on 55 points but it's the Harare side which has tougher fixtures in the next two game weeks.
They play inform Black Rhinos away at Vhengere next before hosting Ngezi Platinum Stars, while Norman Mapeza's men play struggling sides WhaWha and Bulawayo City.
However, at this stage of the season, teams who are fighting relegation can pose a real threat as they fight for survival.
In the last game, Ndiraya suggested that Dynamos and FC Platinum matches should be played at the same time and attributed his team's lethargic performance to the pressure of playing after their rival had already won their game.
Ndiraya was also not pleased after his team's run of five matches without conceding a goal ended with a Donald Mudadi strike for Harare City over the weekend.
"I am quite disappointed by the goal that we conceded, a soft goal quite unusual of us to concede such a goal. But that is football and we knew at some point we were going to concede after notching some clean sheets," he said.
Source - Newsday Zimbabwe
