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Ellina Mhlanga Sports Reporter
GUNNERS coach Kudakwashe Masaraure insists his high-flying side aren’t fighting for the World Navi Northern Region Division One soccer league championship despite their recent strong run.
The former Premiership side beat Mushowani Stars 1-0 at Afdis on Saturday, the latest of an impressive run of results.

But Gunners said they were using this season to build a strong team to contest for the championship next year.

The club said they were enjoying their fine run which has seen them collecting maximum points in the past three weeks.

Given their strong performance, one would think the Gunners were going to be tempted to shift their position and start looking at their potential of contesting for the championship.

But Masaraure said they were just interested in assembling a strong team this season and launching a championship assault next year.

“We trained hard for the whole week. According to our plans and training we were supposed to win the game and it was a good reward for Gunners,” said Masaraure.

“The chances to win the league are there but still we are not pressurising them (players). We are just moving forward, as we agreed from the beginning, with our vision of building a team.

“If we win (the league championship) it’s a bonus because if we change (the focus) now we will put them under pressure.”

Gunners got their priceless goal from McDonald Motsi.

While Gunners continue to make their presence felt in the league race, Mushowani Stars must be wondering what has hit their camp.

They were top of the table just two weeks ago and were unbeaten in the championship race.

Then, they went to Karoi and crashed to a shock defeat.

Coach Paul “Popopo” Chimalizeni promised that it was just an isolated poor performance by his men and recovery would be swift.

But, at home on Saturday, Gunners made it two losses in two games for the Mashonaland Central side who continue to use the adopted home of Afdis because their home ground in Madziwa is undergoing refurbishment.

Karoi United had been enjoying a purple patch of late, after a poor start, but they found their match when they went down 0-2 to Flame Lily over the weekend.

Luckson Phiri, the Karoi United coach, said they conceded two early goals and could not recover from the setback.

“I think we played well but, unfortunately, we lost. We conceded two early goals, that was just after kick-off,” said Phiri, who claimed that his team did not get enough warm-up time before the match and paid a huge price for that.

“We were delayed as we tried to locate the stadium and by the time we got there, there wasn’t enough time to warm up.

“Flame Lily played well, I can’t take that away from them.

“I think we are going to go back to the drawing board and try to get good results in our next encounter.”

Flame Lily got their goals from Wirimai Mukudu and Walter Masenda and their coach, Nesbert “Yabo” Saruchera was a happy man saying this was a big morale booster for his men.