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Ricky Zililo Senior Sports Reporter
HIGHLANDERS’ leading goal scorer Charles Sibanda headlines a list of seven casualties at the Bulawayo giants who will be subjected to late fitness tests ahead of tomorrow’s league match against Buffaloes.
According to Bosso coach Kelvin Kaindu, most of his players are carrying knocks and they were hoping that the weekend break due to the NetOne bankrolled OneWallet Sup8r Knockout semi-finals afforded his troops time to recover.

Besides Sibanda who has scored 12 league goals, others to be assessed today to determine their availability for the must win encounter against Buffaloes at Hartsfield Grounds tomorrow are skipper Innocent Mapuranga and his central defence partner Dumisani “Fazo” Ndlovu, leftback Honest Moyo, Rahman Kutsanzira, Gabriel Nyoni and Kudzi Machazane.

“The weekend break was a blessing in disguise for us because we had most of our players carrying knocks and the short break gave them time to recover. Hopefully there will be an improvement from the guys as we resume training but we will ascertain their situation tomorrow to see their progress.

“If they are bad, we won’t rush them back because the remaining nine games are very crucial as the competition is tough and it’s still anyone’s game. All the top five teams have fair chances of winning the title unlike in the past two seasons where it was us and Dynamos in title contention. This is a period where we have to fully concentrate in every game and avoid making mistakes as a slip may cost us our position,” said Kaindu.

The Bulawayo giants who lost the 2012 and 2013 championships to Dynamos due to an inferior goal difference are second on the table having accumulated 38 points after 21 games, one behind the defending champions.

Premiership debutants ZPC Kariba are third and tied on points with Highlanders but have an inferior goal difference to Bosso’s.
Caps United (37) and Hwange who are on 34 points are also strong contenders for the championship, making the final third of the season interesting.

With DeMbare, ZPC Kariba, Caps United and Chipangano in the title mix, Kaindu is praying that the injuries that his players carry are not serious as sidelining any of the seven might be unfavourable for his campaign.

If Sibanda, Machazane and Nyoni are ruled out, it leaves Bosso with Ncube, Ozias Zibande and Mgcini Sibanda as attacking options.
Sibanda and Mapuranga did not train yesterday as they were in Harare for the official launch of the TM Pick n’ Pay Challenge Cup in which Highlanders will face Dynamos on Saturday.

Mapuranga and Ndlovu have been a reliable pair for Kaindu in defence. In the event that they are ruled out then vice captain Erick Mudzingwa will most likely partner Felix Chindungwe in central defence leaving Webster Chingodza on the right back position.

Chindungwe has been having a game of his life in central midfield as twin anchormen with Hillary Madzvivanyika.
Highlanders should be wary of Buffaloes who lost coach Luke Masomere to How Mine last week after their 2-2 draw with Black Rhinos and replaced him with Moses Chunga.

The army side sits on position eight, 10 points behind pacesetters Dynamos.
Meanwhile, Dynamos, fresh from knocking out How Mine in the OneWallet Sup8r semi-final, have what looks like an easy encounter against table anchors Chiredzi at Rufaro Stadium tomorrow while Caps United on Thursday take on relegation-staring Bantu Rovers in Bulawayo.