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Ellina Mhlanga Sports Reporter
ROYAL Classic, who were only promoted into the World Navi Northern Region Division One soccer league this season, are broke, their players have at times, gone without refreshments during Match Days.
The youthful side is anchoring the table with six points from two wins and they have lost eight matches.

Yesterday, Royal Classic coach Mapiye Kapinde said lack of experience and financial challenges had been their Achilles Heel.

“So far what is lacking in our team is experience, most of the players never played in Division One. It’s an Under-23 team, but the real problem is we are financially crippled,” said Kapinde.

“We have no money and sometimes we have no refreshments during our matches, the players are not being paid their bonuses so it’s just commitment from these youngsters.
“And our motto is ‘play to market yourself’.”

Kapinde, however, said they will soldier on to avoid relegation and is looking forward to their encounter against Mushowani tomorrow at Tsungubvi.

“For this game we are the underdogs, but we will try to surprise them. We have to use the home advantage to start picking points to cover the gap between us and our rivals in the relegation zone.

“So, I expect to win this game against Mushowani. We want to try and win all our home matches to avoid relegation,” said Kapinde.

Royal Classic secretary general, Tawanda Kazingizi admitted that they have been facing financial challenges, but blamed their current situation on lack of experience in the team.

“We had some in-house problems, we had financial problems but I think the problem has been solved.

“In our last two games we performed well, but maybe lack of experience has been affecting us. About 90 percent of our players are Under-23.

“Most of our players are school-going because Royal Classic is an academy and our major objective in the league is to survive relegation.

“We don’t want to be relegated so that our players can mature and then next year we hope to be promoted to the Premier League,” said Kazingizi.

However, Royal Classic will have to put their house in order and up their game before it’s too late.

And their game tomorrow will be a tough one as they are facing a wounded lion in Mushowani Stars who will be out to try and to bounce back from two defeats in the last two weeks.

Fixtures
Tomorrow: Karoi United v ZRP Morris (Chikangwe), Gunners v Flame Lilly (Lafarge), Royal Classic v Mushowani (Tsungubvi), Seven Flames v Blue Swallows (Commando), Twalumba v Dstv Rangers (Dzivarasekwa),  Bindura v Commando (Chipadze), Ngezi Platinum v Lake Harvest (Baobab ), DC Academy v Strabill (Tomlinson), Black Mambas v Chegutu (Morris Depot).