Zimpapers Logo

Dingilizwe Ntuli, Sports Editor
WHEN Highlanders last completed a league double over bitter rivals Dynamos in 2006, the Bulawayo giants went on to be crowned league champions.

Bosso beat Dynamos 2-1 in yesterday’s Castle Lager Premiership game to complete their first double over the Harare Glamour Boys in a decade following a 2-0 win in the reverse fixture in the capital in the first half of the season.

Never mind the double, Bosso had not beaten Dynamos in a league match for a decade and a draw was the best they could produce since winning the championship in 2006. This broke the Highlanders’ fans and try as they did, misery always seemed to follow them.

However, that long running jinx was finally broken on May 28 at Rufaro Stadium in Harare when Bosso ran riot over Dynamos in their own backyard and half the job was done. But most pundits were not convinced that Highlanders were capable of completing a double and their doubts were almost sealed yesterday until a moment of magic tilted the game in Bosso’s favour and with it renewed belief that they could still challenge for the league title.

Only scorer of yesterday’s winner veteran striker Ralph Matema (34), Tendai Ngulube (31), Erick Mudzingwa (30), Allan Gahadzikwa (30) and Simon Munawa (29), who featured in yesterday’s game for the home side, are old enough to remember the 2006 season when Bosso conquered all and sundry to lift the title. Most players that featured in their line-up yesterday were still in primary school when the Bulawayo giants were invincible.

Matema is the only survivor of the 2006 championship winners that featured eccentric goalkeeper Tapuwa Kapini, Gilbert Banda in central defence, Johannes Ngodzo, Honour Gombami and Vusa Nyoni in midfield and Obidiah Tarumbwa in the front line.

The lads evoked memories of the 2006 season yesterday, but can they emulate those invincibles by winning the league championship since they have equalled their feat of condemning DeMbare to home and away defeats in the campaign?

Highlanders’ secretary-general Emmet Ndlovu seems to believe that there is more to their double over Dynamos, but they’d have to win their remaining seven matches to entertain any such hopes.

Their fans believe they can steal it and one would have been forgiven yesterday for thinking that Bosso had won the title judging by the enormity of their celebrations on the streets.

They reminded one of yesteryear when Barbourfields was a Bosso fortress and Bulawayo was turned into a sea of black and white whenever Highlanders were playing at home.

The team still lacks consistency, but the fans somehow believe that the double is the tonic Bosso needed to re-launch their title offensive.
Songs of delight last sang 10 years ago were revived in the Soweto stand when Bosso took the lead and after the match as they proved that Highlanders’ support was not dead.

If only the players can complement the support they received at the stadium and on the streets yesterday, Barbourfields Stadium will certainly retain its fear factor of yesteryear for visiting teams and new songs will be composed about this sleeping giant. — @dilizwe