BULAWAYO – Highlanders beat visiting ZPC Kariba 2-0 at Barbourfields with club fans choosing to stay away from the league clash in an unprecedented show of solidarity with the football giants who claim to have suffered unfair treatment by football administrators and biased referring in their Chibuku Super Cup quarter final match against Simba Bhora last month.
After a week’s campaign to boycott the clash among fans from the popular club’s many chapters at home and abroad, Barbourfields Stadium which is usually a cacophony of cheer song, whistles and screams on the terraces, was a desolate affair on Sunday as the gallery was near empty.
Instead, the buzz was at the club house not too far from the stadium where fans engaged in pomp and funfair as they joyed through the afternoon in a fund raising gala in support of the country’s oldest football club.
However, that did not stop an inconsistent Highlanders from beating ZPC Kariba with first half goals by Lynoth Chikuhwa and Mckinnon Mushore.
Head coach Kelvin Kaindu was impressed with his side’s 2 goals scored against a team that has conceded the second least number of goals in the current premiership campaign.
“We kept a clean sheet. Obviously, we have improved on goalscoring, maybe we should be a goal or two behind the team that has scored the most goals, maybe our disadvantage is the goals that we have conceded but going forward, we seem to have improved and we look like we are now an offensive team.
“Maybe what we just need to improve on is our defending but if we score two and keep a clean sheet, it’s a plus for us,” said the Zambian mentor after the clash.
Highlanders, who once topped the premiership table this season, have surrendered their title campaign after falling 16 points behind league leaders Simba Bhora with only five games left on the 2024 premiership calendar to end the season.
The club’s only hope of clinching a silverware this season went up in smoke at Wadzanai Stadium recently when opponents Simba Bhora were awarded a penalty from what appeared on television replays as a wrong call from the referee of the day, Cecil Gwezera who was later suspended for six weeks together with one of his assistants following the debacle.
The disputed penalty, awarded 76 minutes into the clash, came from an incident in which defender Peter Muduhwa was adjudged to have committed a foul against Tinashe Balakasi but it turned out the incident happened outside the box.
The match was later abandoned after Highlanders goalkeeper and skipper Ariel Sibanda refused to take his position between the sticks to allow the spot kick to be taken.
Both clubs were later fined US$6,000 each for fan violence that ensued during the match.
Meanwhile, Caps United came from a goal behind at Rufaro on Sunday to produce a 2-1 victory over Dynamos in yet another smash-and-grab incident involving the Green Machine and an old rival in the headline fixture of the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League’s Week 29 diary.
Valentine Kadonzvo put Dynamos ahead moments before the half time break but Jayden Bakare restored parity 72 minutes into the clash.
With all seemingly headed for a 1-1 stalemate between the rivals, Caps United were gifted an own goal just under 10 minutes from the full-time whistle to make it 2-1.
Both Dynamos and Caps United are out of contention for the league title having fallen way behind in terms of points difference with table toppers Simba Bhora but the victory over each other is always sweet for both set of fans.
With Sunday’s triumph, Caps United produced yet another thrilling come-back affair against a traditional rival, having fallen 2 goals behind Highlanders at Rufaro last month only to win 3-2 with two goals scored in the dying minutes of the clash.
In other matches, title contenders FC Platinum did not do themselves any favour after they were held 2-2 by Hwange at the Colliery to drop crucial points that would have allowed the former champions to clip the yawning points gap with Simba Bhora.
At Baobab, Chegutu Pirates were 2-1 victors over Bikita Minerals.
Following Week 29 round of fixtures, Simba Bhora are on top with 60 points followed by FC Platinum who are on 51.
Highlanders are third on 44 and share the same number of points with fourth placed Manica Diamonds who have an inferior goal difference.
