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Innocent Kurira, [email protected]

ON a day Tanaka Shandirwa was out with an injury, Dynamos FC failed to sparkle.

It was clear he had been the driving force behind the team’s recent success.

Dynamos were not bad but Shandirwa’s drive in midfield was visibly missed.

DeMbare were nowhere near the side that dominated Highlanders FC in the previous week when they lost 2-1 to Bulawayo Chiefs at Barbourfields Stadium on Saturday.

It was Dynamos’ first loss at Barbourfields Stadium this season and also the second against Chiefs who beat them 3-2 in the first round of fixtures at the National Sports Stadium.

The diminutive Shandirwa has been DeMbare’s stand-out performer this season.

Kante, as he is affectionately known, suffered the injury when he was stamped on by Highlanders defender Andrew Mbeba in an off-the-ball incident in last week’s ill-tempered clash which was abandoned due to crowd trouble.

“They did their homework. If you see Shadreck Nyahwa is a bit slow and we had to push Junior Makunike into an unusual forward position. He is used to playing in a defensive role. We missed someone with the energy to go up and down the pitch like Shandirwa,” said Dynamos coach Genesis Mangombe.

Dynamos expect Shandirwa back at training this week.

DeMbare captain Frank Makarati survived a red card after pushing Bulawayo Chiefs striker Obriel Chirinda to the ground in the second half

“Maybe he was a bit harsh, but he was frustrated. These Chiefs players were delaying play and doing all the dirty tactics. He was frustrated. But I’m happy he controlled his emotions, maybe he was supposed to be red carded. We don’t accept that. We will go back to the drawing board and tell the leader to lead by example,” said Mangombe.

He said it was a good game but his players failed to match their opponents in the sense that they did not play a fast game to have many entries in the box.

“In the first half we failed to do that and in the second half we tried to rectify the problem. We should have tried to defend that second goal better. That’s the game of football, there are times you lose a match through a silly mistake,” said Mangombe. —@innocentskizoe