Online Reporter
- Half-a-century of league games for Scottland in the domestic PSL
- In their 25 away league games, the Scotts have lost just ONE match
- Only Dynamos have scored more than two goals against the Scotts
Robson Sharuko
Metros Editor
CHAMPIONS Scottland will play their 50th league match, in the Castle Lager Premiership, when they take on in-form Herentals at Rufaro tomorrow.
It will also be their 26th away league match since their arrival in the domestic top-flight league at the beginning of last season.
Scottland have not lost a game away from home for ONE YEAR now.
When they beat Chicken Inn 2-0 at Barbourfields, in Round 15 of this year’s championship race, they completed TWELVE MONTHS without losing a match on the road.
The Mabvuku side have lost just ONE away match since they arrived in the domestic Premiership last season.
That defeat came at the hands of traditional rivals MWOS who edged a fierce contest 1-0 at Ngoni on May 31 last year.
Billy Veremu struck the only goal of that match.
One year later, he remains the only home player, to score a winning goal against Scottland, since the Scotts’ arrival in the top-flight league.
The Scotts have played 25 away league matches, including four which were played at Rufaro, in the Premiership.
• They have won 14 league games, drawn 10 and lost just ONE match, which was their defeat at MWOS.
• They have scored 39 goals, in those away matches, and conceded 12 goals.
• The 52 points they have garnered, out of a possible 75 points, in those away matches, represents an impressive success rate of 69,33 percent on the road.
• They have scored in every away match except in games against ZPC Kariba, Triangle, Simba Bhora, Hardrock and Bulawayo Chiefs.
• In the eight away matches they have played this season, they have won five and drawn three and only TelOne and Agama managed to find a way to score against the champions.
• TelOne scored two, in a 2-3 defeat, and they are just one of three clubs, including FC Platinum and GreenFuel, to score more than one goal against Scottland at home since the Mabvuku side arrived in the top-flight league.
• CAPS United, ZPC Kariba, Dynamos, Manica Diamonds (twice), Triangle, Bikita Minerals, Simba Bhora, Chicken Inn (twice), Hardrock and Bulawayo Chiefs have all failed to score against Scottland in their home games.
• This means that in a dozen games, which is quite close to half the number of away matches the Scotts have played in the domestic Premiership, their opponents failed to score.
• The Midlands seem to be Scottland’s favourite hunting ground – it is where they lifted the league championship and it’s where they have twice blown away teams by five-goal scorelines.
• FC Platinum were unbeaten in the league last year when Scottland arrived at Mandava and when the battle was over, the four-time champions were licking the wounds of a 2-5 defeat and never recovered.
• KweKwe United, on their way to Division One, were no match for the would-be champions and crashed to a 1-5 defeat in a league match at Ascot.
• Scottland have played 18 league matches, since their only loss on the road in May last year, and they have won 12, drawn six and are still to lose a game on the road.
• Only one of those matches, a 3-1 win over Herentals, was at Rufaro.
• On nine occasions, which represents half the number of the matches they have played during that period, their opponents failed to score.
• They have taken 42 out of a possible 54 points, which represents a success rate of 77,77 percent on the road.
• Their showdown against in-form Herentals at Rufaro tomorrow will be Scottland’s 50th league match (both home and away) in the domestic Premiership.
• In the 49 league matches they have played, so far, the Scotts have lost just SIX games and FIVE of those losses have come at Rufaro, which is supposed to be their home.
• Dynamos, CAPS United, Ngezi Platinum Stars, Simba Bhora and TelOne have beaten Scottland at Rufaro and all the wins for the opposition were by one-goal margins.
• They have played against 22 different opponents, since their arrival in the domestic Premiership, and only FIVE clubs – GreenFuel, FC Platinum, Dynamos, TelOne and Simba Bhora – have managed to score more than one goal in a match against the Scotts.
• It took 16 games for one of the Premiership sides to find a way to score more than one goal, in a league match, against Scottland when GreenFuel equalised in the Lowveld in a 2-2 draw last year.
• The Glamour Boys are the only club in the Castle Lager Premiership to score more than two goals, in a game, against the champions in that five-goal thriller which was decided by a sensational Denver Mukamba strike at Rufaro on August 30.
OVERALL LEAGUE RECORD
P W D L F A Pts
49 27 16 6 65 26 97
OVERALL AWAY LEAGUE RECORD
P W D L F A Pts
25 14 12 1 39 12 52
AWAY LEAGUE RECORD SINCE ONLY DEFEAT
P W D L F A Pts
18 12 6 0 35 11 42
