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Takudzwa Chitsiga Sports Reporter

ZIFA Northern Region Division One Soccer League side Chinhoyi Stars are in no hurry to replace Clayton Mudekwa as their coach and he will be in charge when they conduct their pre-season trials on Sunday.

The Chinhoyi Municipality-sponsored team will have the trials ahead of their pre-season, which will start next Tuesday.

Chinhoyi Stars survived relegation by a whisker last season and they are looking forward to improving their performances this season by roping in more experienced and talented players.

Never Maruta, the Chinhoyi Stars board executive, said they are going to have the trials and see if they can bolster their squad which was left with 15 players, who still have standing contracts.

“We are going to continue with Mudekwa at the moment as he did well when he took charge at the end of last season when Richard Chunga left the club. We always want to associate with local coaches and at the moment the Chinhoyi Municipal has not come out clear on the sponsorship they are going to give us this season.

“We are not in a position to hire a coach from outside Chinhoyi as we have no capacity at the moment. The municipality usually caters to our coaches’ welfare and we are hopeful we will continue that way. We are targeting at least a top-four finish this season and be very competitive,” said Maruta.

Maruta said the trials are open to everyone who has talent and is willing to join Chinhoyi Stars and make a difference.

“We are going to have some trials on Sunday and see if we can have other players to join the club. We are going to look for quality players who will help us to finish in the top four in the 2024 season.

“The team is ready for the 2024 season and we will begin our pre-season on Tuesday. We still have the core of the team that did duty last season and we are hopeful we will tie down most of them.

“There are at least 15 players, who are still in our books so we need to add other new faces as we do not need to be fighting relegation again this season.

“Last year was a difficult season but still we managed to remain in the league. Northern region is competitive and we need to have a strong and competitive side,” added Maruta.

Chinhoyi Stars finished 14th, a slot above relegation after amassing 39 points from 33 games and they were five points ahead of last relegation candidate Commando Bullets.

The team benefited from the new system which was introduced this year where all four Division Two Provinces are to promote a single team.