BY Kevin Mapasure

Dynamos coach Tonderai Ndiraya is looking to wring every drop of commitment and fighting spirit from his novices when they face a high-riding ZPC Kariba side in his first match at Rufaro Stadium since his return to the team last week.

The match is likely to attract interest from the DeMbare faithfuls, who are expected to come in their numbers to look at the project that Ndiraya is putting together.

DeMbare has endured a difficult start to the season, and have lost three matches from their first five, which saw the departure of Lloyd Chigowe.

In his first match, Ndiraya presided over a draw against TelOne in Bulawayo last week and wants to see his team show signs of improvement when they take on ZPC Kariba tomorrow.

- Advertisement -

Ndiraya acknowledges that his side faces a tough task against a team that has put together four wins in as many matches.

“Against ZPC Kariba, it will be a huge challenge. Our team is comprised of inexperienced players; we have mostly players that have come from Division One,” Ndiraya said this week.

“ZPC Kariba have players with loads of experience and have been playing together for a long time. In fact, they have been strengthening with each season. But look, we are Dynamos. We
are a big name and ZPC can underestimate us at their own peril. We have seen a lot of progress and change in attitude as well as commitment. Against ZPC Kariba, we are banking on our
fighting spirit and commitment. We are banking on the renewed confidence that the players and supporters now have. There is renewed optimism among the supporters, so hopefully, we can
ride on that and do well.”

While Ndiraya has bemoaned the low levels of fitness as well as the quality at his disposal, he is encouraged by the signs he has seen so far.

“We saw some encouraging signs when we played TelOne, so we are expecting an improved performance this weekend. But quite frankly, we still have a long way to go because these things require time.”

While a bumper crowd is expected at Rufaro, Ndiraya knows that big numbers could also work against his team.

“Psychologically, we are going back to Rufaro, where all the bad things were happening in the past. I am sure some players were affected psychologically, so we have been working on
their mentality, so that they don’t buckle under pressure. We are expecting supporters to come in numbers. The motivation is coming from the result we got in Bulawayo and the
performance in that match. That adds pressure to the players who are not used to playing under such conditions, so we have been working on psyching up the boys. In the same vein, we are
calling on our supporters to get behind the team. This is the team that we have and they need all the support they can get. The supporters should get behind the team even in difficult
times. We are trying to do new things and sometimes it won’t work the way we want. We have largely players from Division One, but if we work as a unit, we can get something out of these
boys.”

DeMbare will be boosted by the return of their experienced captain, Edward Sadomba, who missed the last match due to suspension.

Sadomba is expected to lead from the front against the power utility side.