adminJust like last year, Bulawayo giants Highlanders sit at the top of the table although they have accumulated four points less this time around.
At the halfway mark in 2012, Bosso were still unbeaten and had 33 points from 10 victories but a 0-1 loss to Chicken Inn on Wednesday and a 1-2 loss to CAPS United on Saturday has pegged them charge.
Bosso coach Kevin Kaindu said the wheels are not coming off his machine.
“There is nothing wrong within our camp and defeats are part of the game of football,” Kaindu told The Herald yesterday. t the moment we are satisfied by being at top of the log after 15 games and that had been our target.
“Competition is tougher this year, every team that beats another side will lose to another different team.”
Chicken Inn are enjoying their place in the sun and coach, Mandla Mpofu, said the Gamecocks have even surpassed their wildest expectations.
“I think we have done pretty well considering that we are tied on points with the top team,” said Mpofu.
“Our target is to achieve a top four position by the end of the season and so far we are on course and happy.
“I attribute everything to team effort and hard work but we have to remain focused and maybe double our efforts in the next round of matches.”
Dynamos are third on the log and just a point shy of the Bulawayo sides with coach Callisto Pasuwa confident that they will fight to defend their title until the last match of the season.
“So far, so good for us because we are still on the right track. It’s one of our targets to retain the championship at the end of the season,” said Pasuwa.
“Last week, we lost to Buffaloes yet some people thought that we were going to collect three points. So we are saying to all fans, there is no small team in the league and every team we play in the league is a big team.”
Ambitious Harare City could have completed the first half of the season as the pacesetters but the Sunshine Boys fell to their heaviest defeat of the season at the Colliery.
Bigboy Mawiwi, the Harare City coach, said they will not lose sleep over the lost chance to go top of the table.
“We let in some soft goals and the turning point during the match was when we missed the penalty. Our defence started to have lapses in concentration. “A victory could have seen us going on to on top of the log but we lost. It was the worst defeat this season for us,” said Mawiwi.
FC Platinum also remained in the thick of things as they edged struggling Black Rhinos 1-0 at Mandava with Tendai Chikuni taking charge ahead of Lloyd Mutasa’s unveiling as the new coach.
Harare giants CAPS United are tied with FC Platinum on 26 points, just three shy of the leading pack.
CAPS United assistant coach, Brenna Msiska, said they have set a target of a top four finish by the end of the season. It’s pleasing when we can get three points especially against a big team. So far so good for us after the first round of matches and I think we have performed far better than last year. “Our aim at the end of the season is to get a top four finish,” said Msiska
How Mine are also doing well in their debut season and coach Philani Mabhena said they were hoping to avoid relegation.
“To survive we are looking at getting 34 points and now we have 21. So we are looking at 13 points in the next stage and we will see what happens after that.
“The first half was positive and we now aim for at least five wins out of the remaining matches,” said Mabhena.
Latest log 2013
P W D L F A Pts
Highlanders 15 9 2 4 26 14 29
Chicken Inn 15 9 2 4 21 15 29
Dynamos 15 7 7 1 23 9 28
Harare City 15 8 4 3 23 14 28
FC Platinm 15 7 5 3 20 12 26
CAPS Utd 15 8 2 5 21 15 26
How Mine 15 6 3 6 16 19 21
Buffaloes 15 6 1 8 23 28 19
B Mambas 15 6 1 8 15 20 19
Monoz 15 5 4 6 18 24 19
Hwange 15 4 5 6 14 16 17
S Mine 15 5 2 8 14 22 17
Triangle 15 4 4 7 15 18 16
Tripple B 15 4 2 9 15 21 1
M Action 15 3 4 8 13 21 13
B Rhinos 15 3 4 8 15 25 13
2012 after 15 games
PSL log
Highlanders 15 10 5 0 27 9 33
Dynamos 15 10 3 2 26 8 33
S Mine 15 8 5 2 21 11 29
Buffaloes 15 8 4 3 17 12 28
C Inn 15 7 5 3 18 9 26
Monoz 15 8 2 6 19 19 26
FC Plat 15 7 4 4 25 19 25
Hwange 15 6 2 7 24 26 20
Harare City 15 4 7 4 14 15 19
M Action 15 5 4 6 12 13 19
CAPS 15 5 4 6 13 15 19
Gunners 15 5 2 8 14 15 17
B Mambas 15 3 3 9 14 25 12
Hardbody 15 3 1 11 12 25 10
B Rangers 15 1 4 10 11 31 7
*Quelaton15 2 2 11 8 24 5 *three points deducted for using suspended player.
Online Reporter