daniel chigunwe
Sports Reporter
RONALD Pfumbidzai’s arrival at Scottland during the mid-season transfer window proved to be the catalyst which made the difference in the titanic Northern Region Division One championship race.
Statistics have shown that the roving left-back’s arrival from South Africa was the turning point of the season for Scottland in their successful chase for honours.
When he played his first game for Scottland at the beginning of August, the Mabvuku side were in FOURTH place with 39 points, four points adrift of leaders MWOS.
Black Rhinos, on 42 points, and Harare City, with 41 points, were considered bigger challengers to MWOS than Scottland.
Twenty games had been played then and MWOS had won 13 matches, drawn four and lost just three, including a loss to Scottland at Heart Stadium, in the first game of the season.
Scottland had won 12, drawn three and lost five.
Then, Pfumbidzai arrived and everything changed.
At the end of the season, Scottland won the championship with 87 points from their 38 games. MWOS finished in second place with 85 points from their 38 matches.
Here are Pfumbidzai’s impressive statistics in the 17 games he played for Scottland:
11 assists, seven goals, one yellow card, 17 x full 90 minutes, 14 wins, 3 draws
Man of the match awards in games versus Zambezi G&C, Cranborne Bullets, Norton Community, DZ Royals, Harare City, Black Mambas.
He played the MWOS-Scottland game, which ended 1-1, and decided the championship race after coming from a hospital bed.
He was down with a painful flu but told his team doctors that it was an important game and he had to play.
Pfumbidzai pleaded with the technical team to soldier on after he was attacked by a stomach bug during their match against Harare City at Mkushi Academy Grounds.
The scoreline was 1-1, deep in second half, when he started vomiting and, at the same time, MWOS were winning 5-0 away at Mhangura.
Pfumbidzai soldiered on and a trademark deadly cross was turned home by a City defender for an own goal before the former Warriors left-back scored directly from a corner as Scottland won the game 3-1.
If MWOS had won that game at Ngoni, they would have won the championship by a point.
Pfumbidzai collapsed to the turf and cried uncontrollably soon after Scottland were held to a draw by bottom of the table CCLEE Mhangura at Rufaro, feeling his performance was not good enough.
Online Reporter