DYNAMOS coach Tonderai Ndiraya is facing an injury crisis with at least five key players set to miss the trip to Bulawayo for the big match against Chicken Inn at Barbourfields Stadium in Bulawayo tomorrow.
Yesterday, Ndiraya revealed that he might be forced to make major changes to his squad against their title rivals.
Midfielder Ralph Kawondera, who limped off in the dying minutes of their goalless clash against FC Platinum last week, has failed to recover from the knock.
Both Shadreck Nyahwa and King Nadolo, who did not feature against the champions due to injuries, remain sidelined and are likely to miss more matches.
Leftback Brendon Mpofu is another new face in the treatment room as he is down with an undisclosed illness.
Teenage sensation Bill Antonio is away in Belgium for trials and will miss a number of Dynamos matches. He left on Tuesday this week at the invitation of that country’s topflight side Kv Mechelen and is expected to spend six weeks on assessment at the club.
“Our preparations for the match against Chicken Inn have been going on quite well, but we lost some players along the way due to injuries,” Ndiraya said.
“We have a number of key players who are out through injuries and other reasons. Hopefully, we can play this game in their absence and win for them. It’s a blow and we are going to miss them but it has given some other players a chance. There are a lot of players who have not been able to get game time and this is an opportunity for them to take up the responsibility and contribute to the cause of the team. It’s a big blow but we have to give confidence to those who are going to take over to perform for the team.”
A convincing performance against FC Platinum although they failed to garner maximum points, has taken some weight off from Ndiraya, who was under increasing pressure in the past few weeks as the team limped from one bad result to another.
“We know it’s going to be a very difficult game but this is the phase that we are at the moment. We are going through a difficult phase of difficult fixtures and we want to make sure that we finish this phase with something in our hands, so we are going there with a lot of confidence and hopefully we can get a very favourable result.”
Dynamos have struggled in the past against Chicken Inn, especially in Bulawayo.
The Harare giants have visited Chicken Inn nine times, but only managed to collect maximum points just once in a 1-0 win back in 2015.
Ndiraya was in charge of the team when they recorded that victory, after he had just replaced the late David Mandigora.
“It’s been very difficult for us as a team to get a result in Bulawayo, particularly against Chicken Inn but we will give it our best shot. We are in for a fight. We haven’t been doing well in the past few games, but we got a confidence booster when we recovered from the bad phase that we have been going through. Hopefully, we can continue to go out of those difficult moments. It’s a game that we are looking forward to, especially after playing so well against FC Platinum. Let’s hope we can take that form to Chicken Inn and hopefully this time we can score goals so that we increase our chances of winning the match,” Ndiraya said.
In the 19 league games that Chicken Inn and Dynamos have played since 2011, the former have picked up seven victories against the latter’s five. Seven clashes ended in draws.
In addition to history being in favour of the GameCocks, the Bulawayo side will also go into tomorrow’s match with their tails up following a convincing 3-1 win over Bulawayo Chiefs last week which saw the 2015 league champions closing the gap on log leaders FC Platinum to just two points.
Dynamos are on third position in the title race, eight points adrift of the leaders with 13 laps remaining.
Matchday 22 fixtures
Today: Herentals v WhaWha (National Sports Stadium)
Tomorrow: Cranborne Bullets v Harare City (Vengere), Fc Platinum v Zpc Kariba (Mandava), Chicken Inn v Dynamos (Barbourfields), Yadah v Ngezi Platinum Stars (National Sports Stadium)
Sunday: Highlanders v Bulawayo City (Barbourfields), Caps United v Manica Diamonds (National Sports Stadium), Triangle v Black Rhinos (Gibbo), Tenax v Bulawayo Chiefs (Vengere)
