TRADITIONAL giants Highlanders and Dynamos say they will not dwell much on the outcome of the Uhuru Cup final as they seek to quickly shift focus to the league championship race.
Bosso retained the Independence Trophy after beating their arch-rivals 5-3 on penalties despite playing almost two-thirds of the match a man down following the sending off of defender Andrew Mbeba at Mupfure Stadium in Mt Darwin on Tuesday.
It was a disappointing outing for Dynamos who commanded the bulk of the more than 10 000 supporters who thronged the newly-built stadium.
DeMbare looked like they played with one eye on the league fixture after making a number of changes to the team that played against Cranborne Bullets last week.
Coach Herbert Maruwa made six changes to the starting line-up although three of them, including captain Frank Makarati, Denver Mukamba and Donald Mudadi were injury inspired.
The trio of Tendai Matindife, Emmanuel Paga and Tinashe Makanda all started from the bench as Dynamos missed out on silverware.
Players who benefitted were Keith Madera who made his debut for Dynamos following his switch from Black Rhinos while Donald Dzvinyai, Junior Makunike, Emmanuel Ziocha, Nyasha Chintuli and Jayden Bakare made the starting line-up.
The match saw Dynamos fail to score a goal for the third consecutive match, but Maruwa is hoping for a change of fortune ahead of their clash with Bulawayo Chiefs at home on Sunday.
“We need to go back to the drawing board and psyche up our guys so that they can be strong mentally. Sometimes they are collapsing (mentally) at a crucial stage and we have to quickly shift focus to our next league game. But the performance was ok only that we missed a lot of chances even in penalties we had a chance to win, so it’s part of the game,” he said.Dynamos had an impressive start to the season and topped the standings after three games before goals dried up.
Their week five match against Highlanders was cancelled to allow for the Uhuru Cup to be played.
Bosso, who sit one place behind Dynamos in fourth place on the league standings, will be buoyed by their win over Dynamos on Independence Day.
The league fixtures take them to Harare where they play Yadah FC on Saturday.
Portuguese coach Baltemar Brito made one change to the team that played a goalless draw against Chicken Inn on Good Friday with Godfrey Makaruse replacing Archford Faira for the Independence Cup game.
It could be the reason why they were better organised despite playing the better part of the match one man less.
Brito, thrilled by the atmosphere at Mupfure Stadium, said the team had no time to celebrate their win with the weekend match fast approaching.
“It’s a fantastic atmosphere here today. It is very good and I would like to say congratulations to the government and everyone involved because the stadium is fantastic. Now we need to enjoy this victory now and get over it because Saturday there is another game,” he said.
Highlanders walked away with US$35 000 for winning the Uhuru Cup while Dynamos settled for US$25 000.
Source: bulawayo24
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