DeMbare invade Ascot

By Makomborero Mutimukulu

Ascot is turning out to be the venue, the gift, that keeps on giving Castle Lager Premier Soccer League drama and as Dynamos make the trip here for a date against Chapungu, very few can dare guess the script this one will follow.

Over the past two seasons, and on the final Match Day, this venue provided the perfect setting for the coronation of local football kings — CAPS United in 2016 and FC Platinum last year.

But only four days ago, this dilapidated stadium looked like a war zone as Nichrut FC fans, stung by the manner in which their team blew a 3-1 lead to eventually fall 3-4, savaged their CAPS United counterparts before the Green Army regrouped and gave as much as they got.

Stones flew like confetti at a wedding and weapons that should never make a way into football stadium were brandished by hooligans believed to be illegal gold planners from nearby Shurugwi, Nichrut’s home town.

Scores of people were injured, bloodied faces became the order of the day.

Suddenly and rather sadly, the story ceased to be about the seven beautiful goals scored on that day, it ceased to be about neither Makepekepe’s Houdini Act nor Simba Nhivi’s hat-trick feat.

It turned into a bloody narrative featuring a guerilla style attack on the CAPS United team bus.

Consequently, Saturday’s sickening events have their dark shadow hovering above this clash between Chapungu and Dynamos.

Not that both teams are not capable of producing drama on their own.

The last time they crossed paths at this venue, in a game that started from the very beginning and not in the second half, it all ended up being a farce.

The goalpost collapsed, the match was abandoned and was replayed a good 95 days later.

But it’s worth noting that as they ran riot on Saturday some Nichrut hooligans threatened to leave their illegal gold panning sites to wreak havoc at Ascot today.

The threats are being taken seriously by authorities here because this lot, this gold panning lot, appears not to know their limits.

Security has been tightened as Dynamos seek only their second win of the season after breaking a seven-game winless start to the campaign when edging Bulawayo City 2-1 at Rufaro on Sunday.

Members of the Blue Army, who snubbed the game against Bulawayo City, will most likely follow their team to the Midlands capital amid hope and probably some fear.

After all, they said they would be there for their club in their away assignments.

Hope that their team will build on their first win of the season, and fear that events of four days ago may play out again, remain a possibility.

But for Lloyd Mutasa, the under-fire Dynamos coach, it’s all about worrying about the things he can control.

“Our first win was long overdue, but that we will be fooling ourselves if we think that we are already out of the murky waters,” he told The Herald.

“The win against Bulawayo City gave the boys some confidence and we hope that they continue to show that they deserve to play for this big institution when we face Chapungu.”

Moles in the Chapungu camp say that the club bosses are not happy with the way their team, with eight points from eight matches, has been performing.

But the airmen’s coach, Tendai Chikuni, doesn’t sound perturbed by rumours that he will be axed and get replaced by Rodwell Dhlakama if he does not turn things around.

“In football there is always pressure, but it all comes down to how you deal with it. After falling 3-1 to Triangle we will make some changes both to the starting XI and the tactics as we face Dynamos,’’

He knows, and his bosses know it, that this is the big scalp.

The one whose defeat will bring a ray of sunshine at the airmen and whose scalp carries its weight in gold and Chikuni, quite a likeable fellow, knows that winning today might just be the tonic he needs.

Whether his men can find their range, in a season of misfiring, remains to be seen.

Ascot, cursed Ascot, awaits the drama.

Fixtures

Today: Yadah v Shabanie (NSS), Chapungu v Dynamos (Ascot), Harare City v Triangle (Rufaro), Bulawayo Chiefs v Herentals (Luveve), Bulawayo City v Nichrut (Barbourfields). The Herald