DeMbare’s worst run

By Sikhumbuzo Moyo

Dynamos’ morale sapping defeat to bitter rivals Highlanders at Rufaro Stadium on Sunday cemented the Harare giants’ worst run in opening games in the history of the Premier Soccer League.

The League was established in 1992 as a breakaway football entity from a then Zifa-run Super League and Bosso were the first side to win the inaugural PSL title in 1993, managing to collect 40 points, five more than runners up Caps United while DeMbare were fifth with 34 points.

However, the Glamour Boys had not had such a miserable run in the opening four games like they have gone through in this year’s campaign under Lloyd Mutasa. In fact the worst that the Glamour Boys have sunk was managing four points in 2011, the year they eventually managed to land the first of their four championship titles.

They were to experience a slow take off again in 2013 where they collected four points having failed to win in the opening four games but to their credit, they also avoided defeats in that run.

The last two seasons have also seen Dynamos behaving like a diesel powered engine that takes longer to heat up before finally hitting the right note but again, the opening four games saw them winning at least one of their games.

The Sunday defeat to Bosso saw them complete a miserable 270 minutes without celebrating a win.

It was Chicken Inn that handed them a 0-1 defeat in the opening fixture at Barbourfields Stadium and they thought they had shrugged off that demon when they managed to cruise to a 3-0 lead against Shabanie Mine in their second game of the season only for the Midlands based side to turn on the power in the last 20 minutes of the encounter to force a 3-3 draw.

That total disintegration should have been a sign that all was not well but they did manage to put up a spirited away show to early season pacesetters Ngezi Platinum before eventually succumbing to a 0-1 defeat at Baobab Stadium.

All these opening results could have been forgotten had Mutasa’s boys managed to collect maximum points against their old nemesis Highlanders at Rufaro Stadium this Sunday but alas Bosso’s ECD, under their legendary son Madinda Ndlovu, had other ideas as in form returning striker Ozias Zibande struck at the dearth of halftime.

The goal proved to be enough to seal DeMbare’s fate as the Highlanders defence of McClive Phiri on the right, skipper Honest Moyo who takes care of business from the left side of defence and the central defence pair of Tendai Ndlovu and Peter Muduhwa jealously guarded their goal.

The disciplined defensive tactics also saw goalkeeper Ariel Sibanda go for an amazing 270 minutes without conceding a goal and set himself up as one of the leading contenders for the first Player of the Month accolade.

Despite this unsavoury history, coach Mutasa believes there is light at the end of the tunnel, which hopefully, won’t be a long one.

Mutasa seems to believe that DeMbare have been in the same situation before yet its not exactly true.

“Obviously you cannot win games if you don’t score and the last two games that we played we could not score goals, hence the difference. But I am sure it’s something that we should go back and look at.

“I think we have been in this mess before; that is football. It’s not only about Dynamos.

“This happens worldwide even with big teams like Real Madrid. You hit a bad patch but what matters is the character to bounce back and I am sure we have the capacity to do that,” said Mutasa after the match on Sunday.

The big encounter was well handled by Harare referee Ruzive Ruzive.

Dynamos now find themselves second from the bottom on the table with only ZPC Kariba behind them and the two struggling sides lock horns this coming weekend.

A lot of theories have been thrown around as to what is wrong at the club but until a solution is found and soon, the defeat by their arch rivals might make it difficult for them to rise again and be among the championship contenders where Ngezi Platinum are on top with 12 points, 11 ahead of Dynamos while Bosso are fourth with 10 points, the same as second and third placed FC Platinum and Chicken Inn. The Chronicle

Dynamos’ first four games table in the last 10 years

2008
P W D L F A Pts
4 1 3 0 4 2 6

2009
P W D L F A Pts
4 2 1 1 7 1 7

2010
P W D L F A Pts
4 3 0 1 4 1 9

2011
P W D L F A Pts
4 1 1 2 2 3 4

2012
P W D L F A Pts
4 3 0 1 10 1 9

2013
P W D L F A Pts
4 0 4 0 3 3 4

2014
P W D L F A Pts
4 3 0 1 7 3 9

2015
P W D L F A Pts
4 3 1 0 6 1 10

2016
P W D L F A Pts
4 1 1 2 2 6 4

2017
P W D L F A Pts
4 1 1 2 3 4 4

2018
P W D L F A Pts
3 0 1 3 3 6 1