The Sunday News
Tadious Manyepo, Sports Reporter
TAKUNDA Benhura is eager to get going when his Ngezi Platinum Stars engage FC Platinum in a Castle Lager Premiership tie at Baobab on Saturday.
The 2023 Golden Boot winner is still to get off the mark in terms of scoring after firing blanks in the Castle Challenge Cup against Dynamos last month and the Premiership opener against new boys Arenel Movers last week.
The 22-year-old started both games playing behind the reinvigorated Claude Mapoka.
While it’s still early days in the marathon, the 13-goal hero in the last campaign reckons he needs to start banging in the goals to help the defending champions retain the crown.
“I am very confident that I will retain my Golden Boot title this season. I scored just 13 goals last term against my target of 20. But that was fine since the goals helped my team win the championship and I also got to win the Golden Boot accolade,” said Benhura.
“It was my first full season in the top-flight and I was happy with how everything panned out. This is now my second term and I am targeting more than the tally I got last year.
“I might have played two games already and failed to hit the back of the net but I believe sometimes it’s not all about scoring but it’s about helping the team by being the perfect team player.
“I have been getting into the areas and I believe I can now start scoring goals. As a striker, the preoccupation is to score goals.
“I am in the team to help the team score goals and win matches. I am working hard every day to try and get to perfect my finishing. I am surrounded by top players in the team and there is no reason why I should fail to score goals.
“Ngezi Platinum Stars is a big team and we can only help maintain that status by continuing to win matches. I am eager to retain my Golden Boot just like I am eager to see my team retain the championship and win other trophies we failed to win last season.”
Benhura said Madamburo are ready to rumble in the peak of the weekend against platinum rivals FC Platinum.
“Our matches against FC Platinum are always tough. They have always produced fireworks and we are expecting nothing short of that.
“We can’t afford to drop any more points. We started our season on a low note, drawing against Arenel Movers last week. We should pick the maximum points against FC Platinum although we really know that we will need to push more to get them,” said Benhura.
“FC Platinum are one of the strongest teams in the country and we should treat them as such. We are playing at home and that should give us a slight advantage over our opponents.
“We need to get going in this match. We are expecting a high intensity match but at the end of the day we should bag the full points.”
