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Ricky Zililo Senior Sports Reporter
HIGHLANDERS Football Club head coach Bongani Mafu will be sacked if his side loses to Flame Lily at Larfarge Stadium in Harare this afternoon, Chronicle Sport can exclusively reveal.

As reported by this publication yesterday, the next three games for Highlanders will have a huge bearing on his stay, starting with today’s match.

Smarting from a 0-1 home defeat to Caps United, Bosso take on Flame Lily in a match in which Mafu can live to die another day should he post a win.

According to impeccable sources at the club, Mafu’s contract has a clause stating that he has to garner 18 points out of a possible 30 from his first 10 official league games.

Bosso lie on position seven with 10 points after seven games.

This therefore means that if Flame Lily wins, Mafu will have effectively failed to meet the 18 points target set for him before his official 10 games.

A tough encounter awaits Mafu and his charges as Flame Lily seem to have hit the right gear, posting impressive results in their last two matches where they handed Triangle United their first defeat of the season winning 1-0 at Larfarge.

On Sunday they drew 1-1 with ZPC Kariba.

“The coach’s fate is in his hands. If he loses to Flame Lily, according to the contract he signed, his stay at the club will effectively come to an abrupt end,” said a source privy to proceedings at Bosso.

“However, should he draw, his stay will be at the discretion of the club’s leadership. But the fact of the matter is that he has a target of 18 points from 10 games.”

Should Bosso draw this afternoon, they will take their points tally to 11.

With a misfiring squad at his disposal, it remains to be seen if Mafu will outsmart Flame Lily’s Nesbert Saruchera whose side is in peak form.

According to sources, what worries Highlanders’ leadership is that Mafu seems to be finding it difficult to come up with a winning formulae.

Just like its supporters, management at Highlanders is questioning the coach’s style of play that has seen Highlanders creating very few, if any real scoring opportunities.

Highlanders have in most of their matches been struggling to unlock their opponents.

Sunday’s defeat to Caps United is said to have riled the Bosso leadership with Mafu’s imminent departure being topical at the club’s weekly Monday review meeting.

The loss to Caps United was Highlanders’ first league defeat to the Green Machine at Barbourfields Stadium since 1997.

Before the encounter Caps United had lost nine out of the 15 meetings against Highlanders at Emagumeni.

Mafu was also the first coach to lead Highlanders to a league loss in Week One in 18 years. He has now set another record as Bosso has lost to Caps United for the first time in 18 years.

So far Highlanders have scored three goals through defenders Teeanage Hadebe in the 1-0 win over Tsholotsho and Webster Chingodza during the 1-0 victory over Hwange. Midfielder Nqobizitha Masuku scored in an away 1-0 win at Dongo Sawmill.

The scoring record is the worst for the club and can only be comparable to the four goals scored after seven matches in 2009.

At this stage in 2006 — the year Bosso were crowned champions — Highlanders had scored 19 times while in 2007 they had scored 11 goals. In 2008 they had scored nine times at this stage with the team finding the net six times in 2010 and nine times in 2011.

They scored the most goals (20) in 2012, the year Kelvin Kaindu joined the Bulawayo giants from Zambia. The following season Bosso had scored 13 goals and last year they had hit 14 past their opponents at this stage of the season.

Sources said the Highlanders leadership has been looking at past performances and they’re unhappy but have given Mafu a long rope to hang himself.

“The club doesn’t want litigations and it protected itself when engaging Mafu by setting a target that now appears difficult to attain. However, the club could have fired him after Week Five when they lost to Chapungu but then they didn’t want to give the coach room to sue. He has a long rope to hang himself and if he doesn’t attain the points he agreed to, he will have to do the honourable and walk away,” said a source.

Highlanders’ supporters have twice expressed their agitation this season, after the 0-1 home defeat to Chapungu and on Sunday.

Throughout the protests, the club has stood firmly behind Mafu.

Even yesterday, Highlanders’ chief executive officer Ndumiso Gumede called on members to rally behind the coach.

“A review will be done after 10 games to see if the club is still within the target it set at the beginning of the year,” he said.

Gumede could not be drawn into confirming that Highlanders set a target of 18 points from 10 games for Mafu.

“I can’t tell you the target we set because that is a contractual issue we have with the coach. It (discussing the target) will be tantamount to revealing the coach’s salary because those issues are in the same page of the contract.”