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The finish was top notch, worth of such a contest and worthy to win any match, but unfortunately for the now former Dynamos hit man, Highlanders refused to back down and replied in the same stanza through golden boy Milton Ncube.
In fact, Dynamos were to blink again in the 71st minute when they conceded a penalty but goalkeeper, George Chigova, making his debut for the Glamour Boys in the absence of first choice Washington Arubi who was job hunting in South Africa, saved them the blushes when he dived to his left to deny Highlanders midfield star Mthulisi Maphosa a place in the sun. In fact, victory for Bosso would have been their first in open play against DeMbare since 2006.
The capacity crowd created the right atmosphere for a humdinger. The fans from either side decorated the shiny beautiful Sunday from morning with their blue and white, black and white colours and for once after a long time, the real game was back at Emagumeni. Fans started flocking into the stadium as early as 11 am, and by 2pm, the stadium was full though there were still long and winding queues outside the stadium, which were still evident even after kick off.
A rejuvenated Highlanders and a well oiled Dynamos are the face of Zimbabwean football and how wonderful it was to be part of the crowd.
Interestingly, no stone throwing, no ugly scenes whatsoever and you have to give credit to fans from both sides for their appreciation of the game and above all, the man at the centre, Hardlife Ndazi.
The Victoria Falls based referee was up to the task, perhaps because he is a towering figure. I don’t know. Perhaps because he lives away from football pollution that is found in Bulawayo and Harare.
I don’t know. But what I know is that fans gave him thumbs up after the game and even after awarding Highlanders a penalty, Dynamos fans, who were close to the action in the Mpilo end goal area, never remonstrated, an indication that they also felt the call was justified.
Such kind of matches bring out the animal in all football loving people, and of course, there were instances where some people got overcome with emotion and hurled insults and slurs at each other, but we have become accustomed to that in this game they call football, especially in a match pitting the two teams, which means different things to different people.
Highlanders were to record a milestone, reaching the half way mark of the season (15 games) unbeaten, still on top of the log. They grossed $104 445 — but a huge chunk of the money went to pay service providers leaving the club with just $40 500, what a pity!
The Bulawayo City Council, owners of the stadium, took a $20 885 slice, with the police and private security taking their own $9 800 cut. The Premier Soccer League banked $9 200, the Zimbabwe Football Association $1 044 and the Sport and Recreation Commission took its six percent fee of $6 200. There was furore after Highlanders treasurer Odiel Nkomo released the figures to the media on Tuesday and what came out from the people was that clubs were losing out to service providers who did not make any input into the football product which was being sold on Sunday.
It’s something that is worth pursuing and the leadership at Zifa and PSL should consider engaging the city fathers and the police to consider reducing what they demand from clubs because clubs are meant to survive from gate takings but under such circumstances, it is service providers who are smiling all the way to the bank.
When everything has been said and done, it amounts to daylight robbery to players who sweat and toil all afternoon, and then get less than everybody else.
Highlanders’ impressive start to the season has seen fans returning to Barbourfields after a lean five seasons which reduced the club to a shadow of its glorious past. The 2006 league fixture between Highlanders and Dynamos drew 26 400 people, but notably, more fans paid to watch the visit of Caps United that year — 33 800.
Highlanders’ decline in form in recent years also saw a drop in their gate takings from the Dynamos fixture — traditionally the biggest domestic fixture on the calendar. In 2007, numbers were down to 20 790, declining in 2008 to 19 580, sliding further down to 12 000 in 2009. There was a slight increase in attendance to 15 000 in 2010, which rose slightly to 16 000 in 2011 before the big leap for last Sunday’s meeting, according to an online report during the week.
The Highlanders roller coaster has been driven by the midfield, ably anchored by Maphosa with Peter ‘Rio’ Moyo a marvel to watch in his debut PSL season. Milton has been classy with his left football, getting the important goals even with his head, and so has been Graham Ncube.
The central defence of Innocent Mapuranga and Erick Mudzingwa has been outstanding under the circumstances, but you get a feeling that Highlanders could do much better with a more vigorous central striker, and they also need a more mature natural centre back for cover.
Beaven Chikaka has been doing well coming in as a substitute changing the complexion of the game, creating scoring opportunities and so has been Masimba Mambare, but another pair of legs is needed to carry off the weight from youngsters like Ozias Zibande and Arnold Ndiweni, who are still undergoing apprenticeship under Zambian coach, Kelvin Kaindu, one man Bulawayo people would not hesitate to vote into the Mayor’s office if asked to.
Kaindu’s technical skills have been evident in the success of Highlanders thus far, but the former club winger chooses to be diplomatic and says he is still building a team for the future and does not want to start talking about winning the title.
He might not want to openly talk about his team’s chances of lifting the title since 2006, but his followers are beginning to fancy their chances and most importantly, they contend that where Highlanders go all the way to lift the title come end of season; it all depends on what he does in the transfer market during the window.
There was an interesting write up on social network Facebook about the team vis-a- vis the title during the week by one Mayisa Phakathi Mbokazi who bylined himself as Call a spade a spade and it read: “Highlanders are not championship material. I know this headline will raise a few eyebrows from some Bosso faithful, but if one is really to analyse the way the oldest team in the Premiership has performed you will see that they have not lost, yes, but it is just only a matter of time and their quality is going to be shown by the way they will rise from their first defeat.
“At the end of the season the unconvincing draws they have played out against some very weak teams will come back to haunt them, come to think of it, it is actually a surprise that they are occupying the pole position on the log standings, their failure to convert chances will work against them and they need to find a recognised striker who can just put the ball at the back of the net because at the moment they have midfielders who can score but the time will come where they will fall short. When the time comes to separate boys from men, they will be standing with the men but they won’t be ‘The Man’, they are just pretenders to the throne”.
You don’t have to agree with Mbokazi. It’s his opinion and everybody is entitled to theirs, but it’s quite hitting and an equally useful observation to those who are objective at Highlanders.
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