adminSikhumbuzo Moyo
AS the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League enters Week 26 this weekend, all focus will be on the blockbuster encounter at Barbourfields Stadium where arch rivals Highlanders and Dynamos are set to square off in a potential title decider. While one team might break clear at the top of the table, the weekend matches are also likely to confirm the identity of two teams that will be relegated. Former league champions, Motor Action, sitting on 16th position with just 17 points and league debutants, Tripple B, sitting on position 15 with 19 points, will be confirmed officially relegated if they lose their weekend games respectively.
Motor Action play host to another relegation fighting side Black Rhinos while Tripple B are home to high-flying Triangle at Dulibadzimu Stadium. A loss for Motor Action will leave them fighting for a maximum of 12 points and in the event that they do manage to get them, their season’s tally will be 29 points, three points below 12th placed Black Mambas who are on 32 points going into this weekend’s round of matches.
For Tripple B, a loss will see them mathematically ending the season on 31 points, again below Black Mambas.
However, the two sides are still in denial mode and believe they have what it takes to pull out a great escape and be part of the elite teams next year.
“We are not throwing in the towel as yet. We still have a chance of surviving relegation and are going to utilise it to the full,” said Tripple B secretary-general Gibson Makanda.
The Mighty Bulls, who were deserted by almost the entire first team during the second transfer-window, said they do not expect to be relegated despite statistics showing otherwise.
“Our expectations are that we will win all our remaining matches. Relegation is not part of our vocabulary at the moment. Our biggest undoing though was the issue of inexperience from the youngsters,” said Motor Action head coach David George.
The Bulls started the season badly and their performance deteriorated steadily. This was compounded by a financial squeeze on their budget with owner Eric Rosen openly admitting that things were not fine at the club.
If Motor Action sink, the curtain will come down on their 14-year-dance with the elite league, having been formed from the once flamboyant Blackpool’s ashes. Winners of the Independence Cup in 2005 under Rahman Gumbo and 2010 under Joe Antipas, Motor Action represented the country in the Caf Champions League in 2012 but were knocked out in the first round.
The other two teams occupying the drop zone, Monomotapa and Black Rhinos, still have a chance of escaping the chop but they too need to win their weekend matches to keep alive those dreams.
If Monomotapa are relegated, local football history would have been created with two former champions going down to the unfashionable Division One league, joining another former champion Gunners who were demoted at the end of last season.
Meanwhile, for the first time in the history of the Premier Soccer League, no team from Harare will be promoted to the PSL after ZPC (Kariba) and Hippo Valley won the Northern and Eastern Region promotional races respectively.
Bongani Ndlovu
Online Reporter