The Sunday Mail
Brighton Zhawi
Dynamos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Bulawayo Chiefs . . . . . . . . . . . . 0
EMBATTLED Dynamos coach Lloyd Mutasa wants the Chibuku Super Cup as much as he wants to avoid relegation.
Mutasa was a relieved man as DeMbare booked a place in the quarter finals courtesy of a 60th minute Tawanda Macheke header.
Macheke headed home a Phakamani Dube cross and sprinted to the bench to hug Mutasa.
“The coach made a decision to start me and I ran to embrace him just to say ‘thank you for showing confidence in me.’
“As a team we know what is being said about him but we want to play for him,” said the DeMbare match winner.
Macheke’s backing of his coach must have gone some way in comforting Mutasa who says that his future at Dynamos is in the hands of the Almighty.
“You don’t live on speculation but probably as a coach irrespective of what people say, you are employed to do the job. I am aware that there are many great Dynamos coaches who are there and can come work for this team.
“You get your chance, you work; if your time is up you go. God knows my time and if my time is up I will leave,” said Mutasa.
On a day the title chasing pair of FC Platinum and Ngezi Platinum bowed out of the knock out competition, DeMbare, who had Denver Mukamba as captain, were far from being impressive.
But in Bulawayo Chiefs, the home side were faced with generous opponents who defended like school boys and shot wide like drunken masters.
Maybe the Chiefs are concentrating on sharpening their Twitter skills more than their finishing!
Mutasa appreciates that his team is unlikely to have easier matches as the competition progresses but believes his misfiring charges can go all the way.
“All the teams who are at the bottom of the log would want to give it (the Chibuku Super Cup) a go… who doesn’t want it?
“For a cup game, you need to score and get to the next round, we cannot ask for much.
“We wanted to break the jinx for the past two seasons when we were eliminated in the first round, so we say thanks to the boys. They fought to the death and we look forward to the quarter finals,” he said.
Mutasa revealed why Mukamba wore the armband.
“The boy has changed much, he is leading by example at the training ground and we need to reward him for that,” he said.
While Mukamba led by example, defensive midfielder Blessing “Bisto” Moyo was a big disappointment for Dynamos and was substituted four minutes before the breather.
“Bisto, according to our perception, he wasn’t there, his body language wasn’t up there, we needed to control the game,” Mutasa explained why he had to replace Moyo with Marvelous Mukumba.
Bulawayo Chiefs coach Garthly Chipuka was justified in blaming his side’s poor finishing, they controlled the game but lost.
“Basically we did not take the chances we got, we got a lot of chances but failed to convert. That is how we lost it. They scored, we didn’t,” said Chipuka.
With Dynamos struggling to impose themselves, Bulawayo Chiefs gained confidence and controlled the game.
In the 18th minute, Chiefs captain Gracious Mleya headed against the crossbar after Dynamos failed to deal with a corner.
Phakhamani Dube almost conceded a second half own-goal when his intended back pass had Simbarashe Chinani scrambling to divert it for a corner on 51 minutes.
Dynamos took the lead against the run of play when Macheke headed home a brilliant Dube cross from the right flank.
After the goal, DeMbare found their passing range with Mukamba at the centre of most of their moves.
Dynamos fans responded by turning their jeers into cheers as the home side finally woke up from their slumber and saw this one off.
Teams
Dynamos: S Chinani, P Dube, O Mushure, M Machazane, G Mukambi, B Moyo (M Mukumba 41st), C Kapupurika (K Kumwala 48th), T Macheke, B Amidu ( Kangadze 87th).
Bulawayo Chiefs: D Bizabani, S Nyahwa (S Mhlanga 53rd), M Majika (D Chivandire 82nd), M Mkolo, A Tandi, T Muzuva, G Mleya, F Matare, S Ngala (Machisi 88th), P Chikwende, S Dube
