Harare City coach, Philani Ncube, has said Harare City are still fighting to survive relegation following their 2-0 premier league win over Shabanie Mine at Rufaro Stadium on Wednesday.
A 25 yard William Manondo strike and Malvin Gaki close range header on 21 minutes and 83 minutes respectively ensured that Harare City won their second match in three outings after dismissing reigning premier league champions CAPS United 3-2 at home a fortnight ago.
Speaking in the wake of the win, Ncube said although City intends to leapfrog several of their opponents this year, the immediate goal was still to steer the side off relegation.
“Yeah, one thing, the mission and the objective is to survive relegation, so we’ll gradually leapfrog other teams, hence we’ll survive at the end of the season,” Ncube told journalists after the match.
“As far as the results are concerned, we are satisfied. But the performance, hey, the first 20 minutes we were lucky, but that’s the game of football, the game on Sunday really taxed us, you could tell, but we played as a team and we managed to grab the the three points.”
Harare City could have doubled the lead on 53 minutes had they been awarded a penalty when forward Jerry Chipangura collided with the Shabanie Mine goalkeeper inside the area. The referee opted to award a free kick at the edge of the box for the foul which ended the winger’s shift yesterday.
“Well, I’m not qualified [to comment on the incident]. As far as I’m concerned, from the layman’s view, yes it was a penalty. But the referee is the person with [authority]. He made the decision, and I believe the decision is the right one,” he said.
Ncube has managed to turn around Harare City since taking over from Mike Madzivanyika as head coach back in May. 10th placed Harare City were in the relegation zone when the former Bulawayo City coach took over the reins and was given one mission by the club’s board of directors on appointment to ensure the ‘City Fathers’ survived relegation.
They have 25 points from 21 outings. Since the season started, they have managed six wins, seven draws and eight losses. More recently, they have registered five wins from 12 matches.
“One thing for sure you have to instill discipline, bring back the confidence, make the players believe in themselves. Those are the only three thing I have worked on, and gradually, they are now understanding the way I want them to play. Hence we are keeping position as much as we can,” he said.