No easy derby – Chitembwe

By Nigel Matongorere

Caps United coach Lloyd Chitembwe, believes Dynamos will be strong opponents in Sunday’s Harare derby despite their relegation troubles from the Castle Lager Premiership.

DeMbare go into the encounter at Rufaro Stadium desperately needing a win in order to move out of the relegation zone.

The fast-fading Harare giants currently sit in the last demotion slot in 15th place with 31 points with six games to go before the season comes to an end.

On the other hand, Makepekepe are pushing for a top four finish as they are in fifth place with 44 points and trail fourth-placed Triangle United by four points.

Makepekepe have a game in hand and if they beat DeMbare on Sunday, they will just be a single point behind the Sugar Sugar Boys with just five games to go before the season comes to an end.

Chitembwe is fully aware of the fact that the form book is normally thrown out of the window in the Harare derby.

In the reverse fixture, Makepekepe emerged with a slender 1-0 win at the National Sports Stadium with bad boy Denver Mukamba scoring the solitary strike.

Mukamba cut short his CAPS loan and returned to DeMbare but has been AWOL since last week which makes him unlikely to feature on Sunday.

“As always, it’s obviously going to be a difficult game. Matches against Dynamos have never been easy games and we are expecting a tough game,” Chitembwe said yesterday after United’s training session at Old Hararians Sports Club.

“For us, the target is to win each and every single game we play. This has always been our target and we cannot deviate from that.

“All the games we play are very important, this game is no exception and we are looking forward to it.

“Like I said, we want to try and get a positive result but it’s obviously never going to be easy but all the same, we will go out there and play with a lot of desire, conviction and determination hoping to get the result we desire.”

DeMbare are winless in their last five matches, a rotten run of form that has seen them fall into the drop zone.

Chitembwe is not letting this dreadful form by their city rivals hoodwink them into thinking that it will be a stroll in the park on Sunday.

“It’s all about a game of football and it’s going to be about the two key facets; defending and attacking,” he said.

“The team that does not defend well will concede and if you concede there is a very high possibility that you will lose the game.

“A team that is very efficient in terms of being creative and scoring goals stands a good chance of winning the game.

“It’s all about being efficient in these two facets of the game; defence and attack. We expect to be very efficient in both facets.”

Although his team heads into Sunday’s game in a much better standing, Chitembwe knows their performance on the pitch will determine the outcome.

“An edge before the game is not very important. What is important is how you apply yourself on the pitch,”

‘‘You can have an edge before the game but that does not make you winners. In as far as I’m concerned, it’s only good for analysts but for coaches and players, I don’t think it comes into play.”

FIXTURES

Tomorrow: Black Rhinos v Harare City (NSS),

Sunday: Shabanie Mine v Highlanders (Maglas), Dynamos v CAPS United (Rufaro) DailyNews