It is only the second week in the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League, but potential title contenders will be mindful of the fact that any slip-up at this stage can have very disastrous consequences for their end of season ambitions.
This year’s title hopefuls Highlanders football club and Caps United got off to a flying start in season opener last week with crucial 3–0 and 5–3 wins over Shabanie Mine and Zimbabwe Saints respectively to set the pace.
Moneybags FC Platinum also collected all the three points while Kiglon produced the biggest shock of the weekend with a 1–0 win over preseason favourites Dynamos.
However, the main focus was on defending champions Motor Action whose pre-season tribulations saw them crashing out of the Caf Champions League and two players Sam Mutenheri and William Kupera being shown the exit door in that aftermath.
The Mighty Bulls, to their credit managed to shake-off that drawback to bellow over a helpless Black Mambas last week but the league champions will be under the microscope once again on Saturday when they clash with a relatively stronger side compared to the one they played last weekend.
Joey Antipas’ side will be up against 2009 league champions Gunners who had made it clear that they are gunning for the championship this time around.
Although, Chando Kupisa lost the core of their team to FC Platinum in the off season, they should provide a good challenge to a team that is also reeling from losing their two influential players, Bheki Ncube and Charles Sibanda who were lured by the cash generated from platinum.
Gunners might have lost goalslinger Norman Maroto, Tafadzwa Dube and Daniel Vheremu but they managed to replace those players with equally good ones in Ashley Rambanapasi, Nyasha Chazika and Leonard Tsipa, but the Mighty Bulls have failed to replace the duo of Ncube and Sibanda which could prove their Achilles heel this season.
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Crunch time also arrives as early at the bottom of the log this weekend for bottom placed Shabanie Mine who host newboys Chicken Inn at their hunting ground called Maglas knowing well that three points will be enough to rescue their already sinking ship.
Second from the bottom Shooting Stars will come face to face with hard-hitting Caps United and a second loss in as many matches for the Joel Sengeredo owned side may not be damning as yet, but it would make the path to the top more difficult.
Fixtures Saturday: Monomotapa vs Highlanders (Rufaro Stadium), Gunners vs Motor Action (Lafarge Stadium)
Sunday: Shooting Stars vs Caps United (Rufaro Stadium), Shabanie Mine vs Chicken Inn (Maglas Stadium), Zim Saints vs Kiglon Bird (Barbourfields Stadium), Blue Ribbon vs Black Mambas (Gwanzura Stadium), Masvingo United vs Hwange (Mucheke Stadium)
Thursday: Dynamos vs FC Platinum (Rufaro Stadium)
