DeMbare need psychological boost

By Eddie Chikamhi and Cloud Fusire

DYNAMOS need to be psychologically up for the task as they return to Rufaro tomorrow to face a plucky ZPC Kariba in a Castle Lager Premiership match.

The Glamour Boys were abandoned and jeered by their supporters the last time they played at the ceremonial home of football, following a pathetic run of results that later claimed the job of coach Lloyd Chigowe and his entire technical team.

The new man in charge, Tonderai Ndiraya, said while he is excited to be back at Rufaro, he felt most of his players still needed psychological upliftment following the nasty events of the last home game against Herentals.

Ndiraya managed to help them stop a demoralising slide of four defeats in a row in all competitive matches with a 1-1 draw in his first assignment against TelOne at Barbourfields last week.

But ZPC Kariba, who have made a flying start this season, are not likely to be easy opponents and Ndiraya has appealed to the supporters.

“Of course, we saw some encouraging signs when we played TelOne and we are expecting an improved performance this week,’’ he said.

“These things require time and I hope time will permit us to continue working on them — psychologically, physically, technically and, of course, tactically.

“Psychologically, we are going back to Rufaro where all the bad things happened in the past and truly there were some players who were affected.

“We have been working on their mentality so that they will rise to the occasion. Of course, the motivation is coming from the result we got in Bulawayo and it was an improved performance.

“In the same vein we are also encouraging our supporters to rally behind the players. We are trying to do some new things, but sometimes it doesn’t come out the way you want.’’

Skipper Edward Sadomba returns after serving suspension. But midfielder Godfrey Mukambi misses out because of a red card in the previous match against TelOne.

Ndiraya has promised to deal with indiscipline by imposing sanctions on the utility man.

“We lost Mukambi through that red card and that really puts us in a difficult position because these are senior players we are talking about and that they miss matches in such a manner is quite disappointing.

“It’s an area that we are going to look into very seriously and we have made it clear to the whole team that we are not going to accept such nonsense.

“We expect senior players to lead by example. We are really going to sit with the players who behave in that manner and put the name of the club and the sponsors into disrepute.

“We are not going to tolerate that and for that reason we are going to sanction Mukambi,” said Ndiraya.

Cameroonians Vincent Herve Mbega and Claude Junior Ngahan have been sidelined by knocks.
ZPC Kariba received a major boost following the return of Ghanaian defender Sylvester Appiah and midfielder Nigel Makumbe from knocks.

Appiah, who won ZPC Kariba Player of the Year award last season, is expected to make his debut after recovering from a left shoulder injury he suffered during pre-season.

Former Highlanders midfielder Makumbe had missed two games with a pulled muscle.

“I trust that the return of these players will add some balance and solidity into my team. These are some of our key players and we are happy to have them back ahead of such a crucial game.

“However, our style of play is not going to change, but we know their return will increase our pool of selection in the team,” said Tamirepi.

ZPC Kariba have won four of their opening five matches while DeMbare have lost three, drawn one and won one. The Herald