ALARM BELLS RING AT DEMBARE Herbert “Jompano”Maruwa

Tadious Manyepo

Sports Reporter

DYNAMOS coach Herbert “Jompano” Maruwa should be a worried man. 

His Glamour Boys have recorded one of the worst performances in the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League for the entire month of May. 

DeMbare played five games including their outstanding match-day five fixture against Highlanders on Africa Day. 

But, they have failed to win any of those matches, making them one of the worst performers for the past five match days. 

In fact, Dynamos’ record in the past five fixtures is better than only that of Simba Bhora and bottom-placed Black Rhinos. 

Dynamos have posted four goalless draws while losing once-a 2-1 defeat at the hands of log leaders Ngezi Platinum Stars at Baobab last Sunday. 

That means they have collected only four points out of a possible 15 in their last five games. 

Even Hwange have done better than the Glamour Boys in the past five games after drawing twice and winning once. 

Only Simba Bhora who have recorded three draws and Black Rhinos who have drawn once have done worse than Dynamos in the entire league for the past five games.

The Harare giants have been exposed brutally over the weeks as they consecutively failed to breach Triangle, Manica Diamonds, Herentals and Highlanders with all those matches ending goalless. 

They only managed to score a goal on Sunday against Ngezi Platinum in a match they were outplayed especially in the second half.

They have been lacking creativity with Donald Mudadi and Tanaka Shandirwa mostly duplicating roles in a formation that has no creative player. 

The Glamour Boys have been so poor in front of goal with all their strikers — Nyasha Chintuli, Eli Ilunga, Jayden Bakare and Tinashe Makanda — failing to come to the party. In fact, they have scored just two goals between themselves in 11 matches. 

And the poor May show by Maruwa’s men has seen them dropping to eighth on the log and it will be interesting to see what the executive will decide when they meet for their regular performance review this week.

Dynamos last won a match on April 30, a 2-0 victory over rivals CAPS United in the Harare derby. 

While they have been singing the blues for the entire May, their title rivals have been making huge strides with pacesetters Ngezi Platinum Stars and Chicken Inn picking 10 points apiece in the last five games. 

Dark horses Bulawayo Chiefs have picked 11 points after spending less than five percent of what Dynamos used in new signings in the off-season. 

But Maruwa has refused to drop his head amid the enduring storm. 

On Sunday, his team showed some good glimpses but they were somehow let down by an average defence and shocking goalkeeping decisions by their usually dependable shot-stopper Taimon Mvula. 

Both goals which they conceded could have been avoided but the defence failed to deal with a cross and Mvula’s failure to keep his line let them down. 

Even the supporters, who usually blame the coach whenever anything is not right, didn’t bother to denigrate Maruwa but instead vented their anger on Mvula. 

So poor has been Mvula and his defence that Dynamos have conceded four goals from crosses. It was Mvula, captain Frank Makarati and Kevin Moyo whose decisiveness in dealing with crosses were badly exposed when the Glamour Boys lost 3-2 against Bulawayo Chiefs last month with all of the Bulawayo Chiefs goals coming from crosses. 

And with Makarati out injured, Moyo was partnered by Donald Dzvinyai at the heart of defence on Sunday but the duo and Mvula were also culpable in Ngezi Platinum’s opening goal that came from a corner kick.

Maybe the good thing is Dynamos are not far off the leading pack as only five points separate them from leaders Ngezi Platinum Stars. 

With 15 points to their name, Maruwa says his team is still in the mix and there was no need to press the panic button as yet.

“If you look at it, those on top of us are also dropping points just like we are doing. I am not saying we should drop points. The league is very competitive and we are still in the race. It’s early days yet and we have a very good chance of competing with those at the top,” said Maruwa. 

“At times we are let down by our own mistakes. We should work on rectifying our flaws. We have to go back to the drawing board, look at ourselves in the mirror and see where we are getting it wrong. 

“We are Dynamos at the end of the day and we should always fight. There is room for improvement if you ask me. 

“Let’s see what happens in the coming games. We are appealing to our fans to keep on rallying behind us”.

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