PSL newboys HardRock play down title chances

Club chairman Wellington Mupandare said the scale of investment behind the Kwekwe outfit had raised expectations well beyond what a debut campaign usually allows, but warned that chasing headlines could derail the club before it finds its footing. “We are going to fight for survival,” Mupandare told Zimpapers Sports Hub. “As a new baby, we have to fight.

We cannot afford to go down the relegation road. People expect a lot from us, but survival comes first. Anything else will be a bonus.” Mupandare said the rebuild was driven by a sober assessment of the gap between Division One and the elite league, rather than ambition to challenge for silverware.

“The first thing we did was to look at the squad we had in Division One,” he said. “We sat down with the technical team, and they gave us recommendations on who to bring in. It was about giving ourselves a chance to compete and survive at this level.” That plan faces an immediate stress test when HardRock open their top-flight campaign at home against defending champions Scottland, a fixture that throws the new boys straight into the glare of national attention.

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For a club still learning the rhythms of the Premier Soccer League, the opening weekend could shape belief, pressure and narrative all at once. “That game is difficult,” Mupandare said. “People are already talking about Scottland’s president and our president.

The focus is on the investment those two are putting into football, so expectations are high.” He warned that either result could carry consequences beyond the scoreboard.“If we lose that game, it can affect the players mentally because we are playing the champions,” he said. “They might start thinking they are not up there with the best. But if we win, then every game after that becomes a final.

Every team will say, if they beat the champions then they must be very good.” Mupandare admitted he would have preferred a softer introduction to life in the top flight, but accepted that the league offers no shelter for newcomers. “If I had another way, I would have started with an average team,” he said. “But this is the league.

We have to deal with it.” HardRock’s message, delivered days before their first ever Premier Soccer League kick off, is clear. The club wants time, patience and points, not premature talk of titles.

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