Mutare Rovers to consolidate pole position
LOG leaders Mutare City Rovers team manager Lyndon Kanyemba believes his team has the capacity to last the distance in the 2017 Eastern Region Division One promotional race.
City Rovers face Bikita Minerals in their Eastern Region Division One League match at Lithium Stadium in Bikita tomorrow (Saturday).
“We are aiming for maximum points in our match against Bikita Minerals. In football there are no more small teams. We are not underrating Bikita Minerals at all. We are now concentrating on ourselves not on what other teams are doing.
“All we want is to maintain the momentum and make sure that we remain consistent. I have no doubt that we can be consistent till the end of the season,” he said.
Kanyemba said his team was not affected by having the games played on the same day, but felt that it was too early for the administrators to take that route.
“As a club, we do not have any challenges playing our games on the same day with other top teams. I just feel that it is too early for that. We still have a lot of games to play.
“I think the administrators have a better reason for that,” he said.
Mutare City Rovers are also topping the top goalscorers’ chart in the league, with the duo of Stephen Sibanda and Evans Chikwaikwai being the leading scorers on nine and eight goals respectively.
Tenax’s Farai Mugumwa has seven goals, while Frank Mukono of Melfort, Sam Msimbu of Mwenezana, Herman Masango of Mucheke Pirates and Renas Machaure of The Africa Trust have banged in five goals each.
Meanwhile, ZIFA Eastern Region fixtures secretary Patient Dube said the region would continue having matches involving the top five teams played at the same time.
Dube said the region was trying to have all matches played simultaneously.
“We will continue having the top five teams playing their matches on the same day and at the same time. We are trying by all means not to repeat what happened last year when violence erupted during the Tenax-Buffaloes game.
“This time around we have decided to monitor the games earlier till the end of the season,” he said.
Asked if some other teams would not be affected, Dube said they were only focusing on the top five teams.
“We are concentrating on the top five teams. We are looking at those who are fighting for the championship. There is no need for us to focus on teams that are at the bottom of the league since their chances of gaining promotion are slim,” he said.
Weekend Fixtures:
Mwenezana vs United Lions; Tenax vs Renco Mine; Surrey vs Prime Rangers; Africa Trust vs Buffaloes; Mutoko vs Black Eagles; Gutu vs Mucheke Pirates and Mukanya B vs Melfort.