DYNAMOS coach Lloyd “Mablanyo” Chigowe, pictured, believes strength in depth will be crucial for his new look side when the 2019 Castle Lager Premiership season finally kicks-off at the end of the month.
DeMbare endured a tumultuous 2018 season where they lacked quality players which saw them fight relegation for the better part of the year.
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The situation was compounded by suspensions of four senior players — Marshall Machazane, Obey Mwerahari, Peace Makaha and Kingstone Nkatha — towards the end of the season for inciting revolts at the club.
This left Chigowe with limited options and at one point the club failed to have an 18-man squad for match days, which prompted the DeMbare gaffer to plan ahead and avert a similar crisis this season.
And speaking after his side was held to a 1-1 draw by Castle Lager Premiership debutants TelOne at Ascot stadium on Sunday, Chigowe said: “We want to make sure we have got as much depth as possible so that when push comes to shove everybody should be able to do duty, so we rested the first 11 that did duty in the Challenge Cup against CAPS United.
“So we gave a chance to the other youngsters to express themselves and stake a claim in the 18-man squad when the league starts.”
Against TelOne, Chigowe fielded a largely changed side comprising impressive Emmanuel Jalayi, Edgar Mhungu, Roberty Sackey while resting the bulk of the stars who triumphed over CAPS United in the Challenge Cup.
Chigowe believes the next two weeks will be very pivotal as he seeks to fine tune his side before the season kicks off.
“These (remaining) two weeks will be used to fine tune our team and make sure we are ready for the battle so that this becomes a fighting team that gives their all for the multitude of Dynamos supporters,” he quipped.
Meanwhile TelOne coach Joel Lupahla has resigned his fate to the Zifa leadership to determine whether he can be allowed to sit on the bench since he does not possess the requisite Caf A coaching licence.
The former Warriors winger is believed to have written to Zifa seeking for exemption from the Caf A coaching licence and is now awaiting Zifa’s verdict on the matter.
“I have now left that to the elders of football, if they say we don’t coach there is nothing that we can do, but I feel that I have done a lot for football since I was 18 years old, now I am 42 and have been in football for a long time” Lupahla pleaded.
“I don’t think a paper should hinder somebody who has given so much to his country, but if they say we can’t coach, we have to comply but that won’t stop us from working with these boys”
“We can’t be stopped to give our say at training so we will still be giving our influence at the end of the day we will conduct the training sessions because football is the same” he said.
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