The Pensioners visit Kansanshi Dynamos Football Club tomorrow in their match week-eight of the MTN Super League.
NAPSA Stars FC Head Coach Perry Mutapa has previewed this encounter during a joint pre-match press briefing held at Kansanshi Dynamos Club Secretariat this morning.
Kansanshi Dynamos coach Boyd Mulwanda also previewed this match at this briefing.
The two teams are scheduled to meet at Lumwana Stadium tomorrow, at 15hours tomorrow.
The Coached talked to the media and this is how the pre-match was;
Coach Perry what are your expectations as you play Kansanshi Dynamos tomorrow?
It will be tough, I played with Coach Boyd in the junior national teams, and I know the type for coach he is. Kansanshi Dynamos is one of the teams in the league that play a passing game just like us. It will be an entertaining game and we are both obviously planning for a win, so let the best team win.
Coach Boyd what are your expectations as you host NAPSA Stars FC tomorrow?
It won’t be an easy game, we expect a tough game because we know how NAPSA Stars plays a compact game, it won’t be easy but the boys are ready for a tough game. But we hope the boys come to the party and play according to our plan.
Mutale Mutale what are your expectations and how is the morale in camp? (Team captain)
We expect a tough game, the morale is here, we have prepared well during the week and what is remaining now is to apply what we have trained in the game tomorrow.
Joseph Lungu coming from a win, what are you expectations? (Defender NAPSA Stars)
We need to prepare adequately and come to the party. We are coming from a win and we just want to carry on from where we ended in the last game. We are here for maximum points.
Coach Boyd, you have not been able to use your home ground (Independence Stadium) how are going to approach this match looking at your home record so far?
We have not been able to use our home ground, our stadium is under renovation and hoping it will soon be done. But we are slowly getting there, trying to adjust and adapt. The only challenge is that the playing surface at Lumwana Ground is not conducive to the type of football that we play, but as a technical team, we have psyched our players to what the pitch is demanding. For now we just have to change how we approach the games.
Coach Perry, last time you played at Lumwana Ground you lost by a goal to nil, how are you approaching this particular match as you go to play a different team?
In preparation, we always want to win. But I’m happy that Coach Boyd is talking about the pitch before the match is played, because he knows how his team plays and I know how my team plays. But to play the kind of football you train, it has to be done in practice. So it’s a game that can go either way, but the most important thing is after the game we are still friends even though we shall be ‘enemies’ for 90 minutes.
Coach Perry your comment on the coming of Augustin Mulenga,..
This is one of the best recruitments we have done at NAPSA Stars. I believe he is a national team player who has played football at his highest. He will bring experience which the boys need in the team. So I am very happy for this recruitment.
To both team;You have almost the similar pattern of form so far. You started a bit poorly then started picking up points, what will you expect in tomorrow’s match and what are you demanding from your players?
Coach Boyd;
We have just played seven games, we started on a slow note, and maybe because we were still in the preseason mood, but this time the boys are catching up and everyone is putting up their best. And we are just doing our best to push the boys and everyone is getting the much needed fitness needed. From our side, we didn’t have too many games during our pre-season and we’ve taken part in these games that playing as part of preparations and it has paid off because we have seen that the boys are picking up and everyone is in the right frame of mind, and going in to tomorrow’s game, we are doing our best to push the boys to where we want them to be.
Coach Perry’s comment;
I can say its early days, but obviously we wanted to get more points than we have done, but this is football you can see how the league is so we just have to keep pushing and hopefully we get the momentum.
Coach Perry, do you think the fact that you rested last week has given you enough rest and enough planning going into this match?
Sometimes it’s good but sometimes it’s not. More especially that we are coming from a win, and obviously the momentum was with us. So sometimes it disrupts the momentum of the team, so we just hope we keep our momentum and hoping for the best tomorrow because it can go either way.
Coach Boyd, do you think playing a team that had enough rest and enough time to plan against you will put you at a disadvantage?
Like my colleague said, it works and sometimes it doesn’t work. Because if you start winning and you have that momentum, then you are told to rest, it also disrupts that morale for the boys because you have to keep them working extra hard and they missed a game which would have helped them to keep their fitness levels and they have to start from zero again to start pushing and psyching the boys to get maximum results. So for us I think I would say it works, but sometimes it doesn’t work and in their case, like the coach has stated that they are coming from a win and they had to rest, so it won’t be the same momentum especially that they were supposed to play a team like Zesco United which could have really helped them.
Any injury concerns from both teams as we head into this week-eight match?
Coach Boyd;
Jesse Were picked up an injury during our game against Power Dynamos in Kitwe and he had to rest. Ronald Kampamba also just played one game against Green Eagles and had an injury, but we are hoping for the best as the rest are up for selection.
Coach Perry;
On our injury list we have Jackson Kakunta with a muscle strain, Simon Nkhta who got injured during our game against MUZA and Bernard Katumoya with a knee problem. We hope to have them maybe in the next coming game.
End of Press briefing