adminRay Bande Senior Sports Reporter
BUFFALOES’ knack of fighting relegation on the last day of the season will once again unfold tomorrow (Saturday) when they host dethroned Dynamos at Sakubva Stadium in a must win encounter for the Mutare soldiers. The curtain comes down on the domestic Premiership season this weekend with Buffaloes and Bulawayo side Tsholotsho locked in a bitter fight to evade the dreaded chop.
Tsholotsho will be hosting unpredictable Harare City at the same time that Buffaloes will be playing against former league champions, Dynamos. Buffaloes need nothing less than victory over Dynamos, but that victory may not guarantee them of a place in the Premiership next season given that if Tsholotsho wins against Harare City then the Mutare outfit will be relegated.
That Harare City are determined to get an win away in Bulawayo against Tsholotsho given that their coach, Taurai Mangwiro has a mandate to finish among the top eight teams after failing to secure a top six finish, gives hope to Buffaloes that if they only manage to win against Dynamos, Premiership survival could be guaranteed. Thus Saul Chaminuka’s men will be praying not only for a win against Dynamos, but also a defeat or draw for Tsholotsho.
Chaminuka remained adamant that his team will escape relegation, saying they are no strangers to fighting for dear life on the last day of the season.
“I have said it before and I will say it again, we are used to this. This is not the first time that Buffaloes finds itself in such a situation. We are confident that we will survive. Yes, our destiny is no longer in our hands, but there is every reason to keep believing that we will be able to avoid relegation. It is a fact that the team that we are fighting against in this relegation dogfight also has the same aspirations, but at the end of the day one of us has to win. My prayer is that the winner will be Buffaloes,” said Chaminuka.
To their advantage, Dynamos will be coming to Sakubva without much venom as the Harare giants have already lost in the race for the league title after Joey Antipas’ Chicken Inn were recently crowned the 2015 champions. It could have been a more challenging task for Buffaloes if Dynamos were to come to Sakubva still enjoying mathematical chances of winning the league title.
As it stands, Manicaland could be left without a single team in the domestic top-flight league as Buffaloes remain hanging by a thread with Dongo Sawmills already demoted, while Eastern Region Division One side Mutare City Rovers are still fighting for Premiership promotion.
Chaminuka’s men conspired to disappoint their fans when they dropped five crucial points that could have made their job lighter in this battle to evade the chop, only if they had won recent matches against Hwange and Tsholotsho.
The Mutare top-flight league outfit sunk deeper into the murky waters of relegation when they were defeated by a slender 1-0 margin by Hwange in a Castle Lager Premiership encounter played at Sakubva Stadium. Barely a fortnight, the Mutare soldiers dropped two more points at home when they had to come from behind to snatch a point against fellow relegation candidates, Thsolothso and now prospects of playing in the less fashionable Division One are increasing as they get into the final round of league matches.
However, with a myriad of challenges, chief among them finance, Buffaloes were always going to struggle to match the performance of other teams in the top-flight league and now it remains to be seen whether the gods of football will once again will at them on the last day of the Castle Lager Premiership season.
Online Reporter