Langton Nyakwenda
Zimpapers Sports Hub
THEY both have no room for error.
And, with just FIVE games to go before the curtain comes down on the championship race, it’s a scary DOG-EAT-DOG scenario.
After a break from the battles for the league championship, when the international games took centre stage, it’s back for the trench warfare tomorrow. In the blue corner, we have the champions Scottland.
They are chasing immortality, hoping to become the first club, in Zimbabwean football history, to win back-to-back league titles in their first two seasons in the top-flight league.
Just think about it, for a moment.
It’s something that no club have managed to do since the first championship race, in the domestic top-flight championship, was held in 1962.
That is 64 years of action.
And, the Scotts, who lead the championship race by a point, are desperate to become the first team to achieve such a feat.
Black Rhinos won the league championship, in their first season in the PSL, in 1984.
But, even that super team did not win back-to-back league titles in their first two years in the top-flight league.
Dynamos, the dominant club in the country during that period, reclaimed the league title, which they had lost in 1984, by winning in it 1985.
It meant the Glamour Boys had won five of the first six league championship races in Independent Zimbabwe.
Scottland have a chance to make history but they know it won’t be easy.
Tomorrow, they have a tough away fixture against ZPC Kariba at Nyamhunga.
In the blue corner, we have Hardrock.
The newboys are hoping to emulate Scottland by winning the league championship in their first season in the top-flight league.
They host unpredictable Bulawayo Chiefs who showed, on their visit to Rufaro at the weekend where they held Scottland to a goalless draw in a Cup game, before losing on penalties, that they can beat any team.
Hardrock have the league’s deadliest striker, Washington Navaya, who has revealed some of the toughest defenders he has faced this season.
Navaya leads the goal-scoring chart with 16 goals and is one shy of his return last season when he claimed the Golden Boot turning out for TelOne.
The lanky striker has continued to torment defenders in Hardrock colours.
With five rounds of action left before the conclusion of the marathon, Navaya is now heavily tipped to match or break the 20-goal record set by the late Norman Maroto back in 2010.
But, the Soccer Star of the Year has not had it easy.
There are a few defenders whom he says make life difficult for him.
“The likes of Peter Muduhwa, Tafa (Webster) and Chigwida (Kudzai) are tough opponents,” revealed Navaya.
His goals have been key for Hardrock.
“All we must do is to win all our remaining games. You never know with football,” said Navaya.
They will also play MWOS (home), Simba Bhora (away) and FC Platinum at home in their next games.
Should he win the 2026 Golden Boot, Navaya will become the first one to retain the award playing for two different teams in the Premiership era.
“Football is a game of pressure but I have to work extra hard.
“You never know what could be the outcome come the end of the season,” he said.
He scored his 16th goal when Hardrock stunned Highlanders 1-0 at Barbourfields last month.
