‘CAPS United not there yet’

By Austin Karonga

While CAPS United displayed a unique brand of football led by their outstanding captain Hardlife Zvirekwi to emerge 1-0 winners over army side Black Rhinos at Rufaro Stadium over the weekend, head coach Lloyd Chitembwe believes they are still miles away from launching a serious title bid.

CAPS trail log-leaders FC Platinum by 14 points both having played 21 matches.

The leading pack FC Platinum and Ngezi Platinum Stars both won their respective matches over the weekend with the log leaders dismissing Bulawayo City 0-1, while Ngezi came from behind to beat Nichrut 3-2.

“I believe we still have a lot of aspects to work on and improve but having these signs gives you enough satisfaction. We are very happy, we still want to improve and this is what we are meant to do; work hard every single day to get to improve on certain aspects. But it’s not always the case that you can be perfect because it’s very difficult to attain perfection,” Chitembwe said.

“It’s important (to win matches), every coach gives himself a chance of winning games and this is what we aspire to do. We aspire to win games, we aspire to win honours and this is the reason why we train and work very hard every single day of our lives. We are looking to the end of the season and hopefully all our ambitions, dreams and aspirations will come to fruition.”

Zvirekwi put aside sad memories of a horrific accident that claimed his left hand just before the resumption of the current season to score the only goal in the third minute which condemned Rhinos to their second defeat on the trot.

“He’s (Zvirekwi) an excellent player, great football qualities; I don’t expect him to do anything less than he did today. He has been great ever since his rehabilitation days soon after the horrific accident he has been excellent. He’s one guy who has done so much in terms of motivating and pushing the rest of the team and it’s amazing what the boy is doing and it justifies his level of mental aptitude so I’m very happy for him,” Chitembwe added.

On Sunday, Herentals completed a great escape with second half substitute Tafadzwa Chitukutuku netting a brace in stoppage time to ensure a 2-2 draw against Yadah.

Yadah had eased into a comfortable 2-0 lead on the hour mark with goals from Simba Sithole and Willard Kalongoda.

With odds against them, Herentals coach Kumbirayi Mutiwekuziva introduced game changers Chitukutuku and Blessing Majarira.

Majarira was instrumental in his team’s turnaround while the ageless Innocent Benza provided the assist from a corner kick for Chitukutuku’s first goal right at the death.

Benza was also in the mix when he chested down to Majarira who weaved in a cross to the left that was well met by Chitukutuku on the run a minute later for his team’s equaliser.

“I would just want to say that miracles do happen in football. The fighting spirit, determination and at the same time hard work propelled us to the draw. Just within three minutes to snatch an equaliser, two goals down the entire 90 minutes just to get the two goals in the added minutes, it’s just amazing,” Mutiwekuziva said.

“We conceded two goals, the first one in the early minutes of the game and the other one at the beginning of the second half which made the game very difficult for us.
But with his magic he came in to propel us to the draw which is very positive for us just gaining a point. I liked the performance of the team, the fighting, the hard work…” DailyNews

Weekend PSL results:

Chapungu 1-1 Byo Chiefs
Byo City 0-1 FC Platinum
CAPS United 1- 0 Black Rhinos
ZPC Kariba 3-1 Triangle
Yadah 2-2 Herentals
Shabanie Mine 0-3 Chicken Inn
Highlanders v Dynamos (postponed)