By Sports Reporter
DYNAMOS coach Hebert Maruwa bemoaned delaying tactics by their opponents in recent matches after being held to a goalless draw for their second successive Premier Soccer League match against minnows Cranborne Bullets at the National Sports Stadium, Monday.
The goalless stalemate against Cranborne Bullets which came on the back of a similar result against Simba Bhora last week saw DeMbare surrendering the top position on the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League log.
DeMbare, who were setting the pace ahead of the start of week four in the PSL are now in third position with seven points, two points behind Caps United.
The Harare giants were bitterly disappointed that they were unable to reclaim top position on the log as they dominated their match against Bullets.
Maruwa’s charges lacked the composure in attack after failing to convert their chances.
The best opportunity of the match fell to Ghanaian star Emmanuel Paga as he was unable to find the back of the net in first-half injury time after seeing his effort coming off the woodwork.
After an entertaining first half, Cranborne Bullets appeared to close up shop in the second half with delaying tactics causing numerous stoppages that broke the rhythm of the game.
The army side’s tactics clearly peeved Dynamos coach Maruwa.
“I think as a team we need to come up with a new strategy, most teams are coming with delaying tactics. As you saw in this game, we played less than 20 minutes in the second half, the whole time their goalkeeper was down and even last week it was the same,” Maruwa said after the match.
“Most of these teams are coming (here) with tactics to delay the game and we need to come up with a new strategy for us to get a positive result.”
Maruwa said even though his side failed to score for the second consecutive match, he is happy with how it is shaping up and appealed for patience.
“I’m very happy with the performance of my team, we did very well in the first 15 minutes but they were in control for the other 15 minutes. Thereafter they had a lot of numbers in midfield and we had to change our formation from 4-3-3 to 4-4-2 which I think worked for us.”
Asked if he is starting to feel any pressure heading into Saturday’s match against Highlanders, he responded: “The good thing is we are not conceding, we have seven points, we have a lot of new players but the team is good. Highlanders also didn’t win their last game so basically, we are going there with a positive result. Football is football. It’s a game of pressure, winning, losing or drawing. There is always pressure but as a team, we will go there with a positive mind and get a positive result. We still have so many games to play, it’s too early, the good thing is we are up there.”
