Manica Diamonds bank on home sweet home
MANICA Diamonds believes they will benefit a lot by hosting their matches at Sakubva in Mutare.
The stadium has been under renovations to meet the required local standards for it to be used for official matches.
It was closed for the rest of last season. Manica Diamonds finished second, eight points behind champions Ngezi Platinum, despite playing all their games away from home. The club hosted their games at Gibbo in Triangle.
Club administrator Owen Sango said they were confident they will play their home games at Sakubva as they believe it will be licenced to host PSL matches.
Manica Diamonds played a friendly match against Mutare City last week to assess the pitch.
“The pitch is almost done, we played a friendly match last week to assess it and found that it’s still a bit bumpy but very playable,” said Sango.
“But action is already underway to rectify it and make it match the expected standards.
“Working hand in hand with the Council, we are looking forward to inviting ZIFA FIB to come and inspect the stadium and we hope that all will go well.
“Sakubva will mean a lot in many facets.
“In terms of support last year we struggled a lot at Gibbo. We would play the day before or after Triangle and we would always have a low turnout.
“It was difficult to have 100 fans at our matches as they would wait to support Triangle. Even if you look administrative-wise, we incurred a lot of costs due to travelling, it’s a thing you wouldn’t want to experience again.”
He added:
“We are aiming for nothing but the league title itself, as a club that’s the standard we have set for ourselves this year.
“The club have also acquired the services of Garikai Dematsika and Chelsea Nyakope from Rhinos and Joseph Kaunda from Majesa Academy to add on the other arrivals (Foster Dhemere, Enoch Karembo and Nigel Mpinduki).”