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Mukudzei Chingwere, Midlands Bureau
UNCONVINCING Bulawayo giants Highlanders have been warned to brace themselves for a tough afternoon ahead of their rescheduled Premiership match against Shabanie Mine at Maglas on Sunday.

Coach Madinda Ndlovu has been hiding behind the rebuilding mantra in a season where they have largely blown hot and cold, having long lost track in the championship matrix and now out of the Chibuku Super Cup.

Tshilamoya has lost five of their previous seven league matches and will be hoping for a strong finish this season starting with maximum points in Zvishavane.

The demanding Highlanders fans have been consoled by the struggles of perennial rivals Dynamos who are flirting with relegation. Bosso are already preparing for the next season and yesterday confirmed the signing of Prince Dube and former Bantu Rovers star Bukhosi sibanda.

Their opponents Shabanie are deep in relegation. Despite their own struggles the impoverished Chinda Boys are determined to maintain their long earned reputation of giant slaying.

“We are on the bottom of the log and like I said long back we do not have control of our destiny but we will continue fighting till the end of the season.

“Even if when we get to a stage where we will have been mathematically relegated we will continue fighting to end the season with a respectable point tally.

“There shall never be a point where we will play for nothing, we will do our best to protect the brand of the club and for the good of football as a whole,” said Shabanie Mine coach Alexio Sigion.

“Highlanders is a good team and we know we need to be at our very best to have a chance of getting something from the match.

“In our previous games against the big teams we have often done very well and we want to do just that against Highlanders.

“If they come here underrating us they will be shocked on the field of play, players are generally up for the challenge in these kind of matches,” said Sigion.

The basement side is on its way down after losing ground in the fight for survival, they come into the weekend game on the back of a 14 match winless streak with eight defeats and six draws.

Highlanders are on 43 points, five points adrift a top four placing on the current log standings.