adminRay Bande Senior Sports Reporter
HIGHLANDERS coach, Bongani Mafu, will make the long trip to Rusape to date Dongo Sawmills at Vengere Stadium on Sunday in a match that the under-fire gaffer badly wants to win in order to appease his hard-to-please fans already calling for his ouster.
The match starts at 3pm.
Amahlolanyama have collected seven points out of a possible 15.
They opened their account this season with an away defeat at the hands of troublesome ZPC Kariba before recording identical and slender 1-0 wins over Tsholotsho FC and Hwange at Barbourfields Stadium before Mutare Premiership side, Buffaloes, forced a goalless stalemate against Bosso at Sakubva Stadium.
In their fifth match of the season, Bosso drew the ire of their supporters when they suffered a 0-1 defeat at the hands of a win-less Chapungu at Barbourfields Stadium.
The result against Chapungu saw some Highlanders supporters demonstrating against the Bulawayo giants, demanding the coach’s immediate sacking.
Such is the burden that the learned coach will be carrying on his shoulders as he leads his troops into Vengere Stadium for a match that the hosts would also want to win at all costs.
What makes matters worse for Mafu is that failure to win against the Rusape Premiership débutantes on Sunday will naturally erode confidence in the camp ahead of their next league assignment against CAPS United at Barbourfields Stadium.
Mafu, whom many accuse of having an exaggerated sense of self-importance owing to his Uefa coaching badge, declined to talk to this newspaper when phoned for a comment this week.
“I am not talking to the Press. When I came back into the country I opened up to all members of the Press, but I was misquoted on several occasions hence I have decided to zip my mouth and fight my battles on the field of play,” said Mafu last Wednesday afternoon.
The Highlanders coach, however, draws some comfort from the support he has been given by members of the team’s executive, who insist that it would be too early to sack the coach.
Interestingly, Highlanders’ return to Vengere comes exactly 19 years after they last played at the same venue and succumbed to a 0-3 defeat at the hands of the now defunct Cone Textiles.
However, coach Shadreck “Father” Mugurasave and his Dongo Sawmills project are yet to collect maximum points in their debut Premiership season and the gaffer knows fully well that his team desperately needs to start collecting maximum points to evade the dreaded chop at the end of the season.
Given that Dongo Sawmills’ next match will be against Hwange away at the Colliery, the Nyanga outfit might go all the way to Match Day Eight without tasting victory, if they fail to utilise home advantage against an out-of-sorts Highlanders on Sunday.
However, reports that there has been discontent in the Dongo Sawmills camp as players refused to go ahead with training on Wednesday afternoon gives a gloomy picture of Dongo Sawmills’ prospects of outplaying Highlanders on Sunday.
Mugurasave confirmed that he had been briefed that the players had boycotted training and called for a meeting with the club’s leadership over pertinent issues.
“I have just been phoned that the players refused to train demanding to have a meeting with the club leadership. At the moment I am actually driving to Rusape from Mutare and I can only give a comprehensive comment when I get on the ground,” said Mugurasave.
Meanwhile, Mutare Premiership side Buffaloes will travel to Bulawayo to date top-flight league new-boys Tsholotsho in an encounter that could be tricky for both teams.
Buffaloes coach Joseph Takaringofa, just like his counterpart at Dongo Sawmills, will be out in search of his first set of maximum points since the start of the season.
Nonetheless, it will not be easy for Takaringofa and his men to get the better of Tsholotsho, given the results that the Matabeleland-based new-boys have been posting in their recent matches.
PSL league Fixtures
Saturday: Chicken Inn FC v How Mine FC (Luveve Stadium); Harare City FC v Dynamos FC (Rufaro Stadium); Flame Lily FC v Triangle United FC (Lafarge Stadium); Whawha FC v FC Platinum (Ascot Stadium):
Sunday: Caps United FC v ZPC Kariba FC (National Sports Stadium); Dongo Sawmill FC v Highlanders FC (Vengere Stadium); Chapungu FC v Hwange FC (Ascot Stadium); Tsholotsho FC v Buffaloes FC (White City Stadium).
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