Caps United . . . . . . . . . . . . 0
Dynamos . . . . . . . . . . . (2)2
DYNAMOS produced a dazzling display to dismantle Caps United and collect all the three points at stake in an enthralling Harare derby match in front of a big and appreciative crowd at the National Sports Stadium yesterday.
DeMbare were comfortably ahead at half-time after a thunderous shot from Donald Mudadi on 30th minute and Jayden Bakare's headed effort seven minutes later, as the ageing Green Machine squad struggled to cope with the Dynamos squad that combined speed and precision to outclass their opponents.
The victory — which will certainly live long in the memory of the Dynamos fans — halted a three-match winless run that was beginning to heighten pressure on coach Herbert Maruwa.
His team moved to fourth position on the log standings with 11 points, three behind new log leaders Highlanders.
Caps United played the better part of the second half with 10 men after leftback Innocent Zambezi was shown a second yellow card for an off-the-ball foul on Emmanuel Jalai on 63rd minute.
Maruwa who made a bold decision to start with a youthful squad in this pressure game, said the key to this important victory was the speed of his players who simply overwhelmed the slow Caps United squad, especially in midfield.
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He was excited his players executed their game plan to the letter.
"We opted for speed, and that's why we brought in Keith (Madera) and Matindife (Tendai) in the wings. That is where we unsettled them," Maruwa said.
"It was a good result for us. Like I have been saying, we are not under pressure, and we are not panicking. We have a good team with a lot of youngsters coming up, so basically our supporters should have patience.
"Credit to the midfielders, Junior Makunike, Tanaka (Shandirwa) and Donald, they managed to contain the more experienced guys from Caps United. That is where we won the game. I'm also happy with the defenders because we managed to keep a clean sheet after we conceded three goals in the last game. I think that is the last we are going to concede such."
His opposite Lloyd Chitembwe admitted his side had a bad day in office, summed by his fiery clash with the supporters at full-time who were clearly unhappy to lose for the first time since the opening of the season.
The former combative midfielder was filmed exchanging harsh words with some visibly angry supporters who were housed on the Caps United bay, and his assistants had a torrid time trying to restrain their firebrand boss.
Earlier during his post-match conference though, he had praised the same supporters for coming out in numbers to cheer their team.
"We lost it in the first half. We lost so many duels in that first half, in one-versus-one situations we were a bit slow. You could see they were much quicker to the ball than ourselves. That is the reason we had to make changes at halftime. I was quite impressed with the performance after we regrouped in the second half. We changed a few things and it gave us some impetus going forward, and even our ball retention was better. There are some very good lessons to take from that game. Hopefully we knew at some point that we were going to lose a match at some point and I'm happy we lost it at this stage of the season.
"We still have time and opportunities to regroup. No team has won it (title) yet. No one is chasing for anything as of now, so I'm happy that it (defeat) has happened now.
"The supporters were absolutely fantastic. We play football for these people and I'm very happy for them. It's unfortunate for the Caps United supporters because they were not expecting this but you can only understand them. Their coming in numbers shows that they believe in the team and it’s unfortunate that we didn't give them what they deserve. This is quite refreshing for Zimbabwean football."
Caps United, who started the weekend round of matches on top of the log, has slipped to third position with 14 points.
DeMbare flew out of the blocks and were almost ahead inside the opening minutes and only some heroic defending from Caps United was keeping Maruwa's men at bay.
The pace and precision of the midfield trio of Shandirwa, Mudadi and Makunike was overrunning the duo of Devon Chafa and Blessing Sarupinda in midfield.
But it was Caps United who almost went ahead on 22 minutes only for Rodwell Chinyengetere to head over on an empty net from a gorgeous Godknows Murwira cross.
DeMbare's chances kept coming and they finally took the lead on the half-hour mark.
Shandirwa stole possession from Sarupinda and fed Matindife who beat one man before cleverly laying the ball to the unmarked Mudadi to riffle home, with the shot going via the underside of the cross bar.
They quickly doubled their lead through Barake for his first goal of the season.
The reigning Rookie of the Year headed in a rebound after golkeeper Tonderai Mateyaunga failed to gather an angled shot from Mudadi.
In their celebration, the whole team ran and mobbed Maruwa in an apparent show of support for their underfire coach.
DeMbare were turning on the style and the noise from the section that housed their supporters was deafening as they cheered their team to a halftime lead.
Chitembwe pulled Chafa and Sarupinda at halftime as he sought to add some speed in midfield. They did improve but their job was made even difficult when Zambezi was issued a second yellow card for an off-the-ball foul on Jalai.
But that did not stop them from trying, although they couldn't fashion any decent chances.
It was Dynamos who almost increased their lead with substitute Nyasha Chintuli missing a sitter.
Afterwards, the game opened even more as the Green Machine poured men forward in search of a goal.
Inevitably, spaces also opened up at the back but DeMbare couldn’t capitalise on that.
Teams
Caps: T Mateyaunga, G Murwira, I Zambezi, P Musaka, K Madzongwe, D Chafa (C Rupiya, 46'), B Sarupinda (A Silla, 46), J Tulani, P Bamusi, R Chinyengetere, W Manondo
Dynamos: T Mvula, E Moyo, K Moyo, F Makarati, E Jalai, D Mudadi (D Mukamba, 81'), T Shandirwa, J Makunike, T Matindife (B Mpofu, 68), K Madera (N Chintuli, 64'), J Bakare (E Paga, 64')
lFollow Henry on Twitter @henrymhara
