Robson Sharuko
Metros Editor
SCOTTLAND’S bid for the immortality that comes with becoming the first club to win the title in their first two seasons, in the 62-year history of the domestic top-flight league, suffered a HUGE setback on Saturday.
A shock 0-1 defeat at the hands of ZPC Kariba saw the Scotts lose top spot in the championship race, for the first time in months.
They surrendered pole position to Hardrock.
The Kwekwe side have won their last seven league games on the trot and they have now opened a two-point lead at the summit.
The Scotts have won just three of their last seven league games.
Knowledge Musona’s injury came at the wrong time for the champions and it was his brace, including a beauty of a free-kick, which powered them to their only away win in their last seven league games.
Scottland beat Simba Bhora 2-1 that afternoon at Wadzanai.
The champions will now be hoping that Simba Bhora can do them a favour and, at least, force Hardrock to drop points when the Kwekwe side visit Wadzanai.
Kelvin Kaindu’s men also have a date against Dynamos at Rufaro and the tension and chaos, which characterised their abandoned game at Chahwanda, have now eased.
And, in a way, it has also been forgotten.
The reality is that Hardrock could go five points clear if they win their game against DeMbare with Scottland distracted from the championship race with their Champions League commitments.
Norman Mapeza insisted at the weekend that while their shock loss in Kariba was a big blow, it was not a terminal one, as his charges could still win the championship.
That is quite true.
However, the challenge for Mapeza is that even if Hardrock drop points in their final four matches, there is no guarantee that Scottland will win all their last four games.
They have some tricky battles against Chicken Inn, who are coached by the man who led the Scotts to the league title last season, Tonderai Ndiraya, CAPS United, Herentals and Triangle.
Maybe, for Mapeza, his confidence stems from his mysterious connection with the number FOUR – which represents the number of league matches left in the championship race – and the success stories he has written in the game.
Here are some of the funny statistics:
• Mapeza’s first major piece of silverware in the domestic Premiership came on September 26, 1992, when he was part of the Darryn T side which crushed CAPS United in the Castle Cup final. Mapeza was just 17 and Darryn T scored FOUR goals in that match.
• His first league title came FOUR years into the new millennium as an assistant coach at CAPS United in 2004. He was working with Charles Mhlauri.
• FOUR years later, he led Monomotapa to the league championship, in 2008, which was his first title as a head coach and it was also the club’s first league title.
• During that season, Mapeza saw his Monomotapa side lose their first FOUR league games but they somehow turned it around and won the championship by a two-point margin over Dynamos.
• The FOUR game losing streak for Monomotapa, in that horror start to the championship race, ended on April FOUR that season.
• Mapeza’s team then won their next three games by the same scoreline (3-2 over Lengthens, 3-2 over CAPS United and 3-2 over Lancashire Steel). That strange pattern of results changed in game number FOUR, of that winning streak, when Monomotapa edged CAPS FC 1-0.
• The Glamour Boys finished second, in that season, and they know things would have turned differently, with them winning the championship, if they had avoided defeat in one of the FOUR games they lost that season.
• Mapeza has won FOUR league titles as head coach, three with FC Platinum and one with Monomotapa, while he has also won FOUR Castle Cup Challenge showdowns, three with FC Platinum and one with Scottland.
• Mapeza was the first coach to guide a club, from outside Harare and Bulawayo, to the league championship after Independence. The only other club to do that is St Paul’s Musami. Only FOUR other clubs, whose name starts with an S – Salisbury Sables, State House Tornadoes, Simba Mbora and Scottland – have been crowned champions. Mapeza will hope that, on the 60th anniversary of the year St Paul’s Musami were crowned champions, another club, whose name starts with an S, will win the crown.
• By the time Mapeza left FC Platinum, the Zvishavane club had won the league FOUR times and the coach was not there when they lifted one of those titles. He was there when they lifted their last one in 2022. FOUR years later, he is hoping to add his FOURTH title since the league became an 18-team entity.
• FOUR is also a significant number in local football – the best any club has done is winning FOUR straight league titles (Dynamos – between 1980 and 1983 and 2011 and 2014), (Highlanders between 1999 and 2002) and (FC Platinum between 2017 and 2022).
