HIGHLANDERS coach, Erol Akbay believes he might have struck the right chord to leave the club in a respectable top four position at the end of the season, following their thumping win over Chicken Inn on Sunday.
BY FORTUNE MBELE
Akbay will not be renewing his contract with Highlanders when the two-year deal ends in December.
His mandate was to win the league title this year, but the dream has been shattered following a poor run in the second half of the season, where they managed two wins with the other coming against Shabanie Mine.
The Dutchman has claimed that their slump in form was due to the loss of two strikers – Prince Dube and Roderick Mutuma – a problem similar to last year when they lost Bruce Kangwa and Knox Mutizwa.
After thumping Chicken Inn, Akbay sees a ray of light at the end of the tunnel.
“A top-four finish is my best option now, there are many points between us and the top teams, but anything is possible. You never know with football anything can happen. Yesterday (Sunday), I saw a team that wants to win and I was very happy,” he said.
The Bulawayo giants are on 37 points, 19 behind leaders Dynamos and 14 less than fourth-placed Chicken Inn.
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Bosso still have an outstanding match against Caps United.
Simon Munawa scored a brace, with the other goals coming from Godfrey Makaruse and Ralph Matema.
“I was also happy that we are scoring goals and we got back to our high-tempo game. Everyone is playing good football and before the game against Chicken Inn, I told them to go in there and enjoy the game,” Akbay said.
However, some players who spoke to NewsDay Sport yesterday said they met and ironed out their differences.
“We met and said it does not make sense to say so and so belongs to whomever in the technical team, while we watch the team sinking,” one senior player said. “We agreed that we should concentrate on our football and ignore everything else.
The season is coming to an end and we want to end in a good position. If we play badly, with some contracts coming to end, we will not get new contracts next year or get any club that wants to employ us. So it is now politics of the stomach.”
