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It has been long since Highlanders posted back to back wins. In fact, it has been long since Highlanders went for a 10-match unbeaten run, which they have just extended to 13 matches and from the look of things, they might finish the first half of the season unbeaten.
When you look back and note that only recently, the team was struggling to attract even 500 paying fans to its home matches, you then realise how much effort has been put by chairman Peter Dube and his executive, head coach Kelvin Kaindu and his technical department as well as captain Innocent Mapuranga and his teammates.
The seal of approval of the new way of doing things, whatever it is, was there for everyone to see on Sunday when the team attracted its largest home crowd this season so far. The club said 13 601 fans paid to watch the match, a wide increase from its previous home match against Harare City which attracted 8 101 fans.
For a moment, the stadium looked full, especially if you compare it with the hard times that the club went past, but however, it was still a far cry of the full house that Emagumeni has been known to be, with as many as 25 000 fans going through the turnstiles at the turn of the millennium when the team was on song.
The good part of it is that the chairman was part of the executive at that time as secretary when the club resurrected once more, from another lull in the middle of the 1990s. Kaindu was also there as a player and he knows what it means to be part of a successful Highlanders family and on Sunday, he came to the match dressed for the occasion. And Oh boy, his boys did not disappoint him.
Spotting a white shirt, black trousers, black shoes and matching black tie, the Zambian looked at ease with his job. In such a big match against a big club like Caps United, who complete the big three equation in the country after Dynamos and Highlanders, the fashion statement says it all.
In fact, his boys could have buried Caps United by a wider score line than the 1-0 margin had the strikers been efficient up front and two of their goal attempts not ruled off side in either half.
Nonetheless, the strength of the team lies in the midfield department where Mthulisi Maphosa is playing the game of his life. The lanky anchor man seldom puts a foot wrong and the Bosso family has fallen in love with his simple football of winning the ball and giving the next man or sending a through pass to a far wide running team mate. Maphosa wins balls on the ground and in the air, and his form has been one of the major reasons why the team has been unbeaten since the beginning of the season.
He has the height to match any player. He has the stamina to fight any opponent. He has the heart to face any test and above all, he has the ability to read the game and his tactical discipline, according to a number of coaches I have heard talk about him, compares with a handful of players in the league.
It was not a surprise that some clubs in South Africa are after his signature because of the way he has carried his business on the field of play so far this season and in fact, he has arguably been the best anchorman in the Premiership.
Maphosa has combined well with Peter “Rio” Moyo, a completely unknown “dread man” at the start of the season, plucked out of the Quelaton dressing room a few weeks before the season, the boy has really made a dream debut in the top league. Alongside Maphosa, they have formed a formidable midfield partnership.
The Bosso juggernaut is centred on the midfield, which also has another quality player, Milton Ncube, who is the joint leading club scorer at five goals with Graham Ncube. With Maphosa playing more of a central anchoring role, Moyo and Ncube have the luxury to venture upfront and within a short period, they have also become darlings among Bosso faithfuls and many are wondering why Ncube had to go via Harare to come to Barbourfields. The left footer left FC Windermere for Harare where he joined Shooting Stars in 2008 with teammate, defender Atlast Musasa and Ncube was to later on win the league title with Motor Action, before coming back to the City of Kings this year.
The midfield has been pivotal to the work of the forwards led by Graham, who has of late started with Simba Mambare with Beavan Chikaka and Ozias Zibande coming from the bench. There are other attacking midfielders who have been on the bench of late, the likes of Simon Munawa, injured Heritani Masuku and Bhekimpilo Ncube who returned from a long injury lay off on Sunday to play a role in the goal that made the difference, heading back into the play a cross off the boot of Lawson Nkomo, who had beautifully taken a free kick on the right. Ncube’s header was met by Mambare inside the box who headed home what was to become the only goal of the match against Caps United.
The goal was early, in the opening 10 minutes, and at the end of it all, you had to feel pity for long faces in Green, which had hoped that the Harare side will make a comeback. At times they had a reason to believe they could get a goal, especially when veteran striker Shingi Kawondera was in possession, especially when Rahman Kutsanzira won possession in his own half and ran past a number of opponents, and the penalty appeal that was ignored by the referee, who however, also ignored what appeared another genuine penalty appeal by Highlanders.
Kaindu’s defence has also come to the party, with captain Mapuranga striking an unexpected partnership with Eric Mudzingwa, who has played all his football at Highlanders as a midfielder. The tall work horse was thrust into the heart of defence after the departure of former captain Gilbert Banda to FC Platinum at the start of the season, and what a short stay it was for Banda. The fact that Mudzingwa has played well as a central defender shows his discipline and talent and the Iminyela lad seems to be getting better with each passing game.
However, it appears Highlanders players must attract more fans to their home matches if they are to enjoy any money since the bulk of the money from the Sunday game went to service providers.
Bosso grossed $45 098 but service providers gobbled most of the funds leaving the financially stricken club with only $14 395.
“The crowd is improving with every encounter and we hope to have more people paying in our coming games. The team is playing well and maybe the rise on Sunday was because it was a big game. The key people came from the rest of the ground which had 11 600 paying. Only 200 people paid to watch from the VIP stand,” said Nkomo.
Last year according to Nkomo, the Caps United game had 8 000 people paying with the biggest crowd drawn from the Dynamos which was just above 16 000.
It is a pity that players who bring fans to the stadium end up on the losing end with people who sit in boardrooms at the Sport and Recreation Commission, Zifa, PSL, City Council (stadium owners) and those who provide security, the police and private security guards getting away with a lion’s share of the money. This calls for a serious re-look at the formula of sharing the football cake because the people who must be benefitting — players — are certainly not getting anything from their sweat. It becomes baffling to fans when the club starts sending a begging bowl to ask for donations to pay winning bonuses, when a lot of fans were at the stadium and I guess by now football fans know who is “eating their money”.
The Bulawayo giants are away to Quelaton tomorrow, though at Barbourfields and will the juggernaut continue to roll? Quelaton have won only twice since their promotion into the big league this season, drawing once and losing the rest of the matches and on paper, they seem like a goat being dragged for slaughter, but football has its own characteristics which make its exciting and until the final whistle is blown, it’s game on.
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Online Reporter