It ain’t over yet

Ricky Zililo, Senior Sports Reporter
TEAMS in the bottom half of the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League table are not safe from relegation and this means an exciting stage for the remainder of the second part of the season as clubs fight against the chop.

Eight points separate 10th placed Bulawayo Chiefs on 26 points from 19 games and ZPC Kariba, who are fourth from bottom of the table and occupy the last relegation slot.

Teams making the bottom half of the table are Chiefs, Yadah on 22 points, Caps United (20), Cranborne Bullets (19), Harare City, who are tied on 18 points with ZPC Kariba, Tenax (17), Bulawayo City (15) and anchors Whawha (15).

All bottom placed teams can still survive the axe if they collect as many points as possible from the 45 points in the remaining 15 games.

What can motivate the bottom four teams which are ZPC Kariba, Tenax, Bulawayo City and Whawha, is that in 2019, three of the four clubs axed at the end of the season were outside the drop zone slots after 19  games.

At this stage of the season in 2019, the bottom four sides were anchors Yadah, who were tied on 17 points with TelOne, Chiefs and Harare City, who were also on 19 points.

However, at the end of that season, Yadah, Chiefs and Harare City survived relegation.

Teams that weren’t in the relegation zone after 19 games, Chapungu who were nineth with 25 points, Hwange (10th with 24 points) and Mushowani Stars (14th on 20 points) were axed alongside TelOne.

In 2018, all four teams that occupied the relegations slots after 19 games lost the battle.

With 15 games left in the 2018 season, the bottom four teams were Nichrut on 16 points, Bulawayo City and Shabanie Mine on 15 points as well as Mutare City (11).

In 2017, the first season that the PSL added two teams to have an 18-team championship, Bantu Rovers, Tsholotsho FC, Harare City and Hwange were relegated.

Harare City were the only club that got to Matchday 20 outside the relegation that season, in 12th place with 21 points, yet they failed to escape the chop.

The bottom four teams after 19 games in 2017 were Hwange on 17 points, Caps United, who had played six matches less than the other teams in relegation zone at the time due to their participation in Caf Champions League, on 14 points, Bantu Rovers (9) and Tsholotsho (7).

Harare City were lucky to be readmitted into the topflight, benefitting from the collapse of How Mine FC.

Key to note for teams in the bottom half is that in 2017, Harare City who occupied the last relegation slot, went down with 38 points, one behind Bulawayo City.

The next season Chapungu survived with 39 points, three more than Nichrut, who were 15th.

In 2019, Bulawayo Chiefs amassed 41 points to remain in the topflight, yet 40 points couldn’t save Chapungu, who finished 15th.

This means for the current season; a team must at least amass 42 points.

Below are the bottom half tables since the PSL introduced 18 teams.

2017 bottom half table
P     W     D     L     F     A     GD     Pts

Chapungu     18     6     6     6     13     13     0     24

Shabanie Mine     19     5     7     7     13     16     -3     22

Harare City     19     5     6     8     13     14     -1     21

Bulawayo City     18     6     3     9     18     22     -4     21

Yadah     19     5     5     9     15     22     -7     20

Hwange     19     4     5     9     15     24     -9     17

Caps United     12     3     5     4     16     13     3     14

Bantu Rovers     19     2     3     14     18     39     -21     9

Tsholotsho FC     19     0     7     12     9     30     -21     7

2018 bottom half table
P     W     D     L     F     A     GD     Pts

Herentals     19     5     7     7     9     15     -4     22

Dynamos     19     5     7     7     17     22     -5     22

Yadah     19     5     7     7     19     26     -7     22

Bulawayo Chiefs     19     4     7     8     12     19     -7     19

Chapungu     19     5     4     10     15     25     -10 19

Nichrut     19     4     4     11     14     24     -10     16

Bulawayo City     19     4     3     12     17     24     -7     15

Shabanie Mine     19     2     9     8     19     36     -17     15

Mutare City     19     2     5     12     14     25     -11     11

2019 bottom half table
P     W     D    L     F     A     GD     Pts

Hwange     19     6     6     7     18     23     -5     24

Herentals     19     4     11     4     15     15     0     23

Highlanders     19     5     8     6     12     15     -3     23

Manica Diamonds     19     5     7     7     16     18     -22     22

Mushowani Stars     19     5     5     9     20     25     -5     20

Harare City     19     5     4     10     18     24     -6     19

Bulawayo Chiefs     19     5     4     10     15     28     -13     19

TelOne FC     19     2     11     6     14     20     -6     17

Yadah     19     3     8     8     13     23     -10     17

2021-22 bottom half table
P     W     D     L     F     A     GD     Pts

Bulawayo Chiefs     19     6     8     5     17     15     2     26

Yadah     19     5     7     7     13     17     -4     22

Caps United     19     5     5     9     19     27     -8     20

Cranborne Bullets     19     5     4     10     18     29     -11     19

Harare City     19     3     9     7     11     16     -5     18

ZPC Kariba     19     4     6     9     9     18     -9     18

Tenax CS FC     19     4     5     10     15     34     -19     17

Bulawayo City     19     3     6     10     13     27     -14     15

Whawha     19     4     3     12     17     35     -18     15

— @ZililoR