The Sunday News
HIGHLANDERS’ stand-in coach Mark Mathe is appealing for calm from the club’s supporters, urging them to rally behind the team as they seek to overturn the bad patch haunting the club.
Mathe, virtually pleaded with the Bosso supporters to back the team, motivate the players ahead of the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League encounter against Chicken Inn at Hartsfield Rugby Ground this afternoon.
The 2006 league champions saw their season’s woes unravel in their last encounter at the same venue when they went down 1-3 to title contenders ZPC Kariba. The result saw the Bosso fans turn against their own, leading to the resignation of Zambian coach Kelvin Kaindu.
That match all, but signalled the end of Highlanders’ hopes of landing the championship this year despite a strong start to the title challenge at the beginning of the season.
“I am pleading with our passionate supporters to come in their numbers to the game this afternoon and rally the boys as we go through this lean spell. I believe our supporters can be the difference if they motivate the boys until the goals come. We are asking the supporters to be patient because we are certain the goals will come, it is a matter of time only,” pleaded Mathe, adding that they were looking at putting behind their past losses and were aiming for a win this afternoon.
The two teams will go into the match with contrasting fortunes, with Highlanders coming from a battering in Harare where they were dumped out of the Chibuku Cup by Harare City while Chicken Inn won their last league match when they beat Black Rhinos 2-0 at today’s match venue.
Chicken Inn have managed to rake in five wins, a loss and a draw in their last seven league games while Highlanders have drawn, managed two wins and suffered four losses in the same period.
The Gamecocks, who at one point were facing a threat of relegation, are looking at a top four finish that could guarantee them a place in this year’s changed version of the Mbada Diamonds Cup while Bosso could see their season end in horror in the event that they maintain their free-fall.
Highlanders might find themselves in seventh position if they fail to beat the Gamecocks while FC Platinum and Hwange win their weekend matches.
Chicken Inn coach, Joey Antipas, however, refused to read much into the formbook saying city derbies can go either way and usually relied more on the players.
“I know Highlanders are battered and bruised from their past few games but this is a city derby, which are known to be tricky and can go either way. While we respect Highlanders as one of the big teams in the country we will be seeking nothing but a win when we go into the pitch tomorrow,” he said.
Highlanders’ strikers would have to up their game this afternoon if they have any hopes of collecting maximum points and win the minds of their hard-to-please fans as they have only managed to score only twice in their past eight league matches.
Since taking over from Kaindu, Mathe has shuffled the team around, moving players to different positions and he defended the re-arrangements saying modern football required players to be versatile.
“You can’t have a player being said he only plays in the right back position. Depending on the opposition we are facing and injuries we have I think we can move players around. We are only selecting the best team that we feel can win the game for us on the day,” he said.
While Highlanders resembles a casualty ward with several players out of action due to injury, Antipas gave his side a clean bill of health.
Highlanders will be missing Simba Sithole, who suffered an ankle injury, Gabriel Nyoni, Webster Chingodza, Njabulo Ncube and Erick Mudzingwa, who has been ruled out of action for the rest of the season.
Left link, Bruce Kangwa has, however, recovered from a head injury sustained during their game against Harare City and would be available for today’s game.
In other PSL games, defending champions Dynamos have what seems to be an easy assignment when they take on Chapungu at Rufaro Stadium.
Although Chapungu won the reverse fixture 1-0 their current woeful performance and poor away record does not favour them in this match.
Fixtures
Today: Buffaloes v Harare City (Sakubva), Triangle United v Caps United (Gibbo), Dynamos v Chapungu (Rufaro, 3pm SS), Highlanders v Chicken Inn (Hartsfield).
