Pressure mounts on Mangombe

By Henry Mhara | Jun. 17, 2024

Mangombe admitted he was feeling the heat

DYNAMOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . (0) 1

ZPC KARIBA . . . . . . . . . . . (1) 1

DYNAMOS coach Genesis Mangombe has admitted pressure is mounting on him to deliver results sooner rather than later as the club’s woes continued, following a tepid home draw against ZPC Kariba on a chilly afternoon at Rufaro Stadium in Harare yesterday.

Migos Svinurai tapped home from close range to put ZPC Kariba in front in the seventh minute before Emmanuel Paga rifled home an equaliser with 27 minutes remaining on the clock.

The draw was the hosts’ eighth in 15 matches, with the Harare giants languishing in seventh place on the log table with 20 points, 11 behind log leaders FC Platinum.

Dynamos have one win in their last seven matches, against promoted side Arenel Movers — and Mangombe knows this is not acceptable.

For now, those close to the club maintain he has the full backing of his bosses despite the team’s awful run, which has led to some sections of the fanbase turning on the under-pressure coach.

Amid the criticism, Mangombe admitted he was feeling the heat.

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“Every game at Dynamos, I am under pressure. The fans want us to win games and as the coach, I need to win the games, so we need to work extra hard so that we change these draws to get maximum points,” Mangombe said.

Much of the criticism from the Dynamos fans has been focussed on Mangombe, but the players could also take some responsibility for a club that is falling well short of expectations.

Yesterday, they created numerous chances, especially in the second half, which they completely dominated, but connived to miss most of the opportunities.

The best chance fell to substitute Frank Alick when he was put through on goal right at the death, but dragged his shot wide with the keeper to beat.

Moments earlier, DeMbare had come inches to score the second goal in a frantic last minute of the game, but a goal-bound shot was cleared off the line.

“We had some bit of complacency in the first half, but we talked to the boys at halftime. We told them to change their attitude, to want it more than the opponent,” Mangombe said.

“In the second half, the players were hungry. They tried everything and created several chances. We need to be clinical if we want to win games. At times, you also need luck because we could have scored from our last chance. I am happy with how the players responded in the second half. It is a good starting point for us.”

ZPC Kariba coach Newton Chitewe was delighted with how his team executed the game plan.

The visitors controlled much of the first half and could have been out of sight at the break, had they been clinical in front of goal.

Samuel Makawa, whose shot was blocked off by Tafiremutsa for Svinurai to tap home, came close later in the first half when he fired wide, while the keeper was also alert to keep out the troublesome Leeroy Murape early in the second half.

Svinurai missed the opportunity to bag a brace when he rose free to meet a cross, but headed straight at the keeper from point blank range.

Given Chiyamuro also thought he had secured all the three points for ZPC Kariba in injury time when his angled shot beat Tafiremutsa, but bounced off the cross bar, much to the relief of the Dynamos fans.

“Obviously, I am very happy considering that this is a team that I only assembled this year. I did not expect that we could perform like this. For me, this is some great work that we are doing,” said Chitewe, whose side continues to get good results against the so-called big teams.

Before yesterday’s draw, which took them to 12th position on the log standings with 18 points, ZPC Kariba had also managed to draw against Highlanders, Caps United, Chicken Inn and champions Ngezi Platinum Stars.

They beat FC Platinum as well.

“When you are playing these big teams, you do not have to motivate these youngsters because they always want to perform so that they can make a name for themselves,” Chitewe said.