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FOUR Zifa Southern Region Division One Soccer League teams will be involved in double headers this weekend in a move meant to clear their backlog. The Zifa Southern Region administrator Augustine Ndlovu yesterday said they have started to clear outstanding matches which were caused by some of the teams’ players’ involvement in the just-ended 11th edition of the Zimbabwe National Youth Games.
Matches involving Quelaton, Bantu Rovers and Hwange Juniors had to be postponed as a result of the National Youth Games and two matches were played on Wednesday.
New West City moved two places up the ladder on Wednesday following their 1-0 win over Quelaton which had contributed six players to Team Bulawayo.
New West City are now third on the log with 36 points from 21 matches and trail log leaders Bulawayo Chiefs by 11 points.
The other mid-week encounter saw Zimbabwe Saints being held to a goalless draw by Hwange Juniors.
The teams that will be involved in double headers at the weekend are fifth placed Bantu Rovers who have tricky fixtures against resurgent Bulawayo Jumbos tomorrow and Technosphere on Sunday while Ajax Hotspurs will lock horns with Hwange Juniors and Technosphere.
“Like we said before, we do not want a situation where other teams have more matches in hand as we are in the final lap of the season. We want teams to battle it out on a level ground and after this weekend the only outstanding game will be the Quelaton-Mpumalanga tie which will be played next Wednesday,” said Ndlovu.
Bantu Rovers are championship dark horses and in the event that they win their weekend games, they will be left trailing runaway leaders Bulawayo Chiefs by nine points after 22 matches.
The star-studded Bulawayo Chiefs who are under the guidance of former national team coach Rahman Gumbo have an easy tie against Rufaro Rovers in Plumtree tomorrow.
Bulawayo Chiefs should however, be wary of the log anchors who last year pulled a shocker when they beat Bantu Rovers on the last day of the season and in the process denied Tshintsha Guluva the opportunity to gain promotion.
Some of the potentially explosive encounters for the weekend are on tomorrow at Fairbridge where second placed Black Boots play host to Mark Mathe coached Zimbabwe Saints while third and fourth on the table New West City and Tsholotsho FC lock horns in Tsholotsho.
Results
Wednesday: New West City 1, Quelaton 0; Zimbabwe Saints 0, Hwange Juniors 0
Log
P W D L F A Pts
Bulawayo Chiefs 21 15 2 4 30 10 47
Black Boots 21 11 8 2 32 14 41
New West City 21 11 3 7 28 23 36
Tsholotsho FC 21 10 5 6 26 18 35
Bantu Rovers 20 11 2 7 21 13 35
Zimbabwe Saints 21 9 5 7 25 21 32
Technosphere 20 9 4 7 26 19 31
ZPC Hwange 21 8 6 7 32 22 30
Quelaton 20 9 2 9 26 27 29
Hwange Juniors 20 6 7 7 17 17 25
Mkhosana 21 7 3 11 17 33 24
Mpumalanga 20 5 7 8 17 23 22
Ntabazinduna 21 5 7 9 11 14 22
Bulawayo Jumbos 21 6 4 11 17 30 22
Ajax Hotspurs 20 5 1 14 14 32 16
Rufaro Rovers 21 3 4 14 12 35 13
Fixtures
Tomorrow: Bulawayo Chiefs v Rufaro Rovers (Plumtree), Technosphere v Ajax Hotspurs (Hwange), Bulawayo Jumbos v Bantu Rovers (Brad Barracks), Hwange Juniors v Mkhosana (Hwange), Tsholotsho v New West City (Tsholotsho), Black Boots v Zimbabwe Saints (Fairbridge), ZPC Hwange v Mpumalanga (Hwange)
Sunday: Hwange Juniors v Ajax Hotspurs (Hwange), Bantu Rovers v Technosphere (Luveve), Quelaton v Ntabazinduna (Portuguese)
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