The Sunday Mail
Online Reporter
AFTER coming close to winning the Premiership title in 2014, ZPC Kariba find themselves in unfamiliar territory, battling for survival for the first time in their history with the elite league.
As the 2021-2022 championship marathon resumes after a mid-season break, ZPC Kariba sit deep in the relegation mix.
They are third from bottom with only three wins and six draws, to amass a total of 15 points from a possible 51.
New coach, Rodwell Dhlakama, who has been tasked with the survival mission, admits that the situation at the ‘Electricity Men’ is dire.
Dhlakama, who helped mastermind Monomotapa FC’s meteoric rise from relegation candidates to champions in 2008, has used the mid-season transfer window to lure a bunch of unheralded players he believes can help ZPC Kariba stage a great escape.
“The situation that we are in is not pleasing at all. We are where we are because of us coaches and the players.
“We are doing everything to try to move out of the position that we find ourselves in come the second-half of the season,” he told The Sunday Mail Online.
“It is not going to be easy considering that quite a number of points were wasted in the first half of the season.”
According to Dhlakama, it is difficult for ZPC Kariba to attract experienced and quality players at the moment.
“It will be difficult to get players during the mid-season transfer window, even if we want to raid the market,” he said.
Dhlakama has, over the years, carved a niche for plucking players from obscurity and turning them to into premiership stars.
He hopes that his gamble to go for rookies will pay off this time around.
He further revealed that the new players will be unleashed in the second half of the season.
“There are a lot of players in the country. I have the experience and the eye to identify potential players.
“We will identify players and experiment with them. I know how to use such players and I am confident that they will give us results,” added Dhlakama.
