DYNAMOS coach Tonderai Ndiraya has asked for more time with his squad, insisting they will be better placed to win the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League title next season.
Ndiraya’s men endured a frustrating spell this season and despite having shown great potential, they were beaten to the title by eventual winners FC Platinum, who clinched it for the fourth time on the trot.
That the Zvishavane-based side even won the coveted league title with three games to spare has symbolic significance.
The Glamour Boys have been left to fight for scraps of a runners-up spot with Chicken Inn.
Dynamos, in third place with 57 points, three behind second-placed Chicken Inn with just one match to the end of the season, are highly unlikely to secure even the silver medal.
Dynamos must win their next match against Caps, while hoping that Chicken Inn fall to Triangle, which will place both teams on 60 points, but put the Glamour Boys on second position on superior goal difference.
Dynamos’ predicament is a marker that the balance of power in domestic football has been turned on its head after the team dominated the local scene for many years before the current slump.
Nevertheless, Ndiraya, while acknowledging they have had a disappointing season, attributed the lacklustre performance largely to the fact that his was a new project.
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He started the season with virtually new players save for a handful of regular players, but still believes they gave a good account of themselves and that if the team is retained and a few reinforcements in some areas are made, they can go all the way and win the title.
“For most of the guys, it’s their first full season with us and it’s extremely difficult for most of them to handle the pressure. But I am happy that with that pressure, the team has done extremely well. It has been a learning curve for some of them,” he said, before adding that the experience that they have had this season will help them in the next campaign,” Ndiraya said.
“You know how it is with our team. It’s difficult because of pressure. But going forward, I guess most of them would know what it is to play for Dynamos and the pressure associated with the team. It is about handling the pressure associated with our team. Of course, some of them I thought they handled the pressure quite well.
“Otherwise, it was going to be disastrous. Despite getting nothing out of the season, I think we must also give it up to those players who joined us this year — quite a number of them – for the show they put up. Of course the expectations were so high but you can’t assemble a team in one season and win the title.
“Football is a process and we are in the process of building a team. It’s my feeling that if we retain most of the players that we have and add a few in the areas that need to be reinforced, the team will be strong next year and will be up for competition.”
Ndiraya, whose charges face off bitter rivals Caps United next in their last league game, have mathematical chances of sneaking back to secure second place finish following the defeat to Herentals last Sunday, which left them three points behind Chicken Inn.
Chicken Inn, who host Triangle also in their final game of the season, need just a draw to secure number two position on the final rankings.
