BY HENRY MHARA DYNAMOS coach Tonderai Ndiraya fears last week’s league break could have disrupted his team’s momentum after enjoying two wins on the trot prior.
Premier League action was put on ice last week to make way for the Chibuku Super Cup preliminary round matches contested by four teams.
Ndiraya, who saw his side pick up seven points from a possible nine prior to the break, following wins over Chicken Inn and Bulawayo Chiefs and a draw against log leaders FC Platinum.
“I’m disappointed that we had to go on a break at a time when I thought the team had picked up form,” Ndiraya, whose side travel to face Tenax in Rusape on Sunday, told the media yesterday.
A four-match barren run after the mid-season break saw DeMbare surrender top spot to FC Platinum, who now look to be running away with the title.
“We were in a very difficult phase and we were slowly getting out of that phase and in came the break so we don’t know how it will affect the team,” Ndiraya said.
“We are preparing very well but these breaks are difficult in the sense that you may lose form and everything that you may have built. We wait to see how it is going to turn out on Sunday when we face Tenax. The training has been good.”
On a positive note for Ndiraya, the break has given some of his injured players time to recover.
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King Nadolo, Ralph Kawondera, Shadreck Nyahwa and Tanaka Chidhobha, who missed the team’s last two matches due to injuries, have all started training and could be included in the squad for the weekend trip to Vengere Stadium.
“The break has also given us time to work on a few things that we feel we needed to work on, and hopefully we can continue to do what we were doing before the break,” Ndiraya said.
He is expecting a tough battle against a Tenax side who is fighting for dear life in the league.
“We are playing a team that is second from the bottom so it puts pressure on us in general because naturally people expect us to stream roll them and get a big win. That is what makes the match difficult. As Dynamos we haven’t had any easy matches. We don’t play easy matches. All our games are difficult for obvious reasons. We are the most popular club in the country and arguably the biggest team in the country so the so called small teams will naturally want to come and give it all against us so that means we have to be prepared psychologically from our end to overcome all those obstacles,” he said.
Vengere has proved to be a tough hunting ground for DeMbare in recent years, and their last trip to the venue ended in disappointment when they were beaten 1-0 by Cranborne Bullets last month.
“Hopefully we can be strong and try and turn things at Vengere. It was difficult for us in the last match but we hope to go there and pick up the momentum that we had before the break and get a good result. It’s a difficult stadium and many coaches have complained about the surface there, but there is nothing we can do about it. We have tried to train in those conditions here and hopefully we can adjust quickly and get the result. The result is the most important thing at the end of the day so we are trying.”
- Follow Henry on Twitter @henrymhara
