By Ricky Zililo
The four Castle Lager Premier Soccer League debutants Bulawayo Chiefs, Herentals, Nichrut and Mutare City Rovers will be hoping for better fortunes in the second half of the season in their quest to survive relegation.
The quartet are not safe from the chop at the end of the season, with Herentals five points above the last relegation slot, while Chiefs are 12th with 18 points and four points above the red line.
Mutare City Rovers, Chapungu, Nichrut and Shabanie Mine occupy the four relegation slots.
Last season, three (Hwange, Bantu Rovers and Tsholotsho) out of the four bottom teams at the halfway stage of the season were relegated, with only Yadah making a miraculous escape, while Harare City, who had amassed 18 points, two ahead of Yadah, were relegated.
Though the points’ difference between Yadah and Harare City was two points after 17 games, statistics show that Herentals and Chiefs at 18 points are not safe from the chop.
Chiefs’ technical analyst and fitness trainer Thulani Sibanda said his side is bracing for a more competitive half.
“Analytically, the bottom 10 teams are not safe and this means we have to brace for a more competitive second half of the season. We will try to correct mistakes we made in the first half and now that we have some appreciation of the styles that the teams play, it helps us prepare for our survival fight. We just have to believe in ourselves and make sure we control our destiny by worrying about our results and leave other teams to do their own stuff,” Sibanda said.
Chiefs were the giant killers and became the first team to beat champions and log leaders FC Platinum as well as second-placed Ngezi Platinum Stars. They also beat Bulawayo giants, Highlanders.
Chiefs open their second half of the season account against Yadah, whom they are tied with on 18 points. The two sides drew 2-2 in the first leg.
Chiefs will be without central defender Last Sithole, who crossed the floor to Chicken Inn during the mid-season break.
Herentals have a difficult home game against Ngezi, who are keen to return to winning ways, having lost their last three games of the first half of the campaign.
The defeats saw Ngezi losing grip on the title race and they now trail FC Platinum by six points. Ngezi beat Herentals 2-0 in the first leg.
New boys Mutare City and Nichrut lock horns at Rusape’s Vengere. Nichrut edged Mutare City 1-0 at the beginning of the season. The Shurugwi-based outfit head for the Mutare City encounter fired up by the arrival of experienced striker Rodrick Mutuma and defender Themba Ndlovu.
Fixtures
Tomorrow: Harare City v Caps United (Rufaro, 2PM), FC Platinum v ZPC Kariba (Mandava, 2PM), Herentals v Ngezi Platinum Stars (National Sports Stadium, 2PM)
Sunday: Mutare City Rovers v Nichrut (Vengere), Dynamos v Chicken Inn (Rufaro), Black Rhinos v Highlanders (National Sports Stadium), Bulawayo Chiefs v Yadah FC (Luveve), Triangle United v Shabanie Mine (Gibbo), Chapungu v Bulawayo City (Ascot)
*All matches start at 3PM unless stated
The Chronicle
