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From Paul Mundandi in Zvishavane
Shabanie Mine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (0) 0

Highlanders . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . (1) 2

HIGHLANDERS kept their Castle Lager Premiership soccer title aspirations alive when they convincingly beat Shabanie Mine at Maglas yesterday.

The victory was so sweet for Bosso as their coach Erol Akbay, rushed to the dressing rooms soon after the final whistle to dance with his boys and had to be followed to be reminded of a post-match interview.

Godfrey Makaruse’s 6th minute strike and a superb goal from Ralph Matema in the 76th minute was enough to put back Highlanders in contention for the league title.

“You have to forgive me guys because today is one of my happiest days. I had rushed to the dressing room to celebrate and if my youngster Ray Lunga had scored I think I was going to dance on the pitch.

“He is a smart guy and he created three chances and I was very happy with his performance. Today was better than last week and we will see what will happen in the remaining games.

“The good news is that we are very close to (leaders) Ngezi Platinum and we still have a very big chance to win the league title. We still have 17 games to play and I urge our fans to be patient and support the team.

“We lost a number of experienced players and the club currently has no money to get the best players but I have hope in the youngsters I have and I feel they just need time to gain the necessary experience,” said Akbay.

It was a game which also saw sanity returning to Highlanders after the inclusion of experienced goalkeepers coach Peter “Captain Oxo” Nkomo who replaced Cosmas “Tsano” Zulu who was demoted to the juniors.

Zulu did not see eye to eye with experienced coach Amin Soma Phiri. The two were suspended this year after an altercation in Zvishavane when Bosso drew with FC Platinum.

Results at glance

Yesterday

Chapungu 3, Black Rhinos 0; Dynamos 2, Triangle 1; Ngezi Platinum 4, Hwange 1; Chicken Inn 1, Bulawayo City 0; Shabanie Mine 0, Highlanders 2

Saturday

Bantu Rovers 0, FC Platinum 1; Tsholotsho 1, How Mine 1; ZPC Kariba 0, Yadah 0; Harare City 3, CAPS Utd 2.

P W D L F A Pts

Ngezi Platinum 19 11 4 4 33 18 37

FC Platinum 18 9 8 1 18 8 35

Chicken Inn 18 11 2 5 17 7 35

Dynamos *17 10 3 4 25 16 33

How Mine 19 9 6 4 17 13 33

Black Rhinos 18 9 4 5 23 14 31

Highlanders 18 9 4 5 20 15 31

ZPC Kariba 19 8 5 6 19 16 29

Triangle Utd 19 6 7 6 18 19 25

Chapungu *18 6 6 6 13 13 24

Shabanie Mine 19 5 7 7 13 16 22

Harare City 19 5 6 8 13 14 21

Bulawayo City 18 6 3 9 18 22 21

Yadah 19 5 5 9 15 22 20

Hwange 18 4 5 9 15 24 17

CAPS Utd 12 3 5 4 17 15 14

Bantu Rovers 19 2 3 14 18 39 9

Tsholotsho 19 0 7 12 9 30 7

*Match Abandoned