Mugove Chigada
Zimpapers Sports Hub
Yesterday marked a year since Tonderai Ndiraya delivered the Castle Lager Premiership title for Scottland.
On 2 November 2025, Scottland sealed the crown with an emphatic 5-1 victory over Kwekwe United, winning the title with two games to spare.
Yet the moment turned bittersweet days later. For the coach now in charge of Chicken Inn, glory was fleeting. On November 26, he was sacked as the club sought a different direction.
And much has changed since that afternoon, just as empires rise and fall in less time.
- The club hired Norman Mapeza and sacked him before the season had even ended.
- Scottland have since competed in the CAF Champions League and been knocked out.
- Unlike last year, when they were in cruise control, they are playing second fiddle to Hardrock.
- Peter Ndlovu has since been appointed coach and won his first game against CAPS United to give them a glimmer of hope.
On Wednesday, Ndiraya returns to Rufaro for the first time to face his former paymasters, Scottland. It is a homecoming laden with memory, and fraught with old loyalties.
What remains unchanged is that Scottland have remained as ambitious as ever, and club president Scott Sakupwanya has remained passionate, continuing to bankroll them in the same manner.
On his return, Ndiraya will still find familiar faces to take him down memory lane. The Musona brothers Knowledge and Walter are still there, so is Khama Billiat and a number of other star players.
He will also learn first-hand that his top goalscorer last season, Tymon Machope, has almost turned to cabbage.
Ndiraya must also not be shocked that defender Albert Manenji has this year done more singing in the dressing room than playing at left-back. Kwakhe Thwala has taken over the role of playing football.
And he already knows that Abubakar Moffat, who once had trials at Scottland during his time, eventually made it, coming from MWOS, and now plays a big part for Scottland.
Each and every detail above is sensitive in one way or another to all parties.
But then again, that is the beauty of football and the drama that it brings.
What matters for now is that Scottland trail log leaders Hardrock by five points and have a game in hand, with just two games to go.
If Ndiraya can inflict defeat on Scottland through his Chicken Inn side at Rufaro on Wednesday, it will be as good as dethroning them from the same title he delivered to them exactly a year ago.
What could surprise Ndiraya, however, is the difference in style which was instant when Peter took over.
“I’m a coach who lets the team play, and once or twice comes to relay instructions,” Ndlovu admitted in his post-match interview after his first win.
Unlike under Mapeza, when there was a lot of focus on controlling the game, Scottland now probe a lot.
The downside is that they are bound to lose shape in many instances, becoming vulnerable on the counter – leaving them exposed on the counter.
And those are things that title-winning coach Ndiraya could be quick to notice, that the ‘gates of Troy’ are down
But it is not as simple as that, as Scottland have much motivation behind them to try to rescue the season.
“We have to give back, but remember I’m just on an interim basis,” Ndlovu added.
As Scottland plunge into battle against their former coach, the biggest story has, however, almost gone unnoticed. The summary of it is that Ndiraya could be facing a much stronger team than the one he left.
For the record, after 31 games, Scottland have done better than they did last year.
The champions have collected 64 points, two points better than they had at the same stage last year before the Kwekwe United game.
What it means is that on 64 points, Scottland would still have won last year’s title, as runners-up MWOS only ended on 62 points.
As things stand, Scottland, with three games to play before the end of the season, could set a club record total points in one season, 73, but still lose the title.
For that season, it must be understood that Scottland have not been poor, but Hardrock have been better.
But then again, whatever happens on Wednesday, history has already recorded that in the space of two years, Scottland sacked two coaches with a combined six years of title-winning experience, Mapeza and Ndiraya.
The unbridled truth is that the same ghosts that haunted the two coaches may still continue to haunt future coaches.
