Chiefs head coach Terroso upbeat ahead of Manica Diamonds clash

Bulawayo Chiefs head coach Nilton Terroso is upbeat ahead of his side’s upcoming tricky league encounter over the weekend.

Chiefs will make a long trip to Mutare to tussle with title contenders Manica Diamonds at Sakubva Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

Both teams head into this match coming from draws in their last games.

Manica held log leaders Chicken Inn at Luveve Stadium in Bulawayo in a six goal thriller that ended in a 3-3 scoreline.

Meanwhile, Chiefs who threw away their lead in the dying minutes of the match on Sunday drew 1-1 with Benjani Mwaruwari’s Ngezi Platinum Stars.

After last weekend’s games, Manica are now seated 4th on the log with 19 points from 10 games and they have won five, drew four and lost one.

On the hand, Amakhosi Amahle (Chiefs) who have two wins, four draws and four defeats in 10 games remain on position 12 with 10 points.

Giving his insight on Manica Diamond’s match, Terroso whose team has gone for seven games without tasting a win said he is ready for his opponents on Sunday.

“Players have worked well ahead of Manica’s match. We have also addressed and identified some situations that need to be changed,” the Portuguese gaffer told the club media.

“Overally, it has been a good week. We have prepared few different approaches in terms of the strategy we will look to utilise on Sunday against Manica.

“We have been working on the mistakes we have made in these past games through physical and video analysis since they have been costing us points.”

He added: “We need to improve, it’s a fact that we have conceded goals in the last three games of which in those games we were leading on two games but gave away points.

“Those are things we need to improve in terms of mentality as well as to organise ourselves without the ball, we need to ensure we don’t give away goals easily.”

Statistically, both teams are equally the same having played only two games between them.

The Gem Boys have managed to defeat Chiefs once in a match that ended 1-0 in Mutare back in 2019 while the Ninjas also replied with a win of the same scoreline in the reverse fixture played in Bulawayo.

Moreover, Terroso also went on to reveal on his side’s current situation.

“We can’t pretend things are good when we are not getting positive results because the mood is always better when we win. However, honestly the situation has not caused any division in the dressing room or has it made our team to lose belief, unity or togetherness.

“That’s the most positive thing we can take away from the current phase going through, we know the last seven games have been difficult and we haven’t done enough but we believe we will turn things around in the next seven games up until we reach half season.” Nehanda Radio