THE postponement of the start of the 2020 Castle Lager Premier Soccer League season might have come as a blessing for Highlanders head coach Mark Harrison.
BY FORTUNE MBELE
The Briton indicated he had a lot of work to do after his side lost to FC Platinum in the Castle Challenge Cup at Barbourfields Stadium in Bulawayo last Saturday.
The Bulawayo giants fell 2-0 to FC Platinum in front of their multitudes of followers and Harrison was not amused at all.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Tuesday enforced a ban on crowds of more than 100 people for two months due to the coronavirus pandemic, with the injunction effectively having a bearing on the start of the league.
But the decision might have come as a blessing in disguise for Harrison who was appointed head coach at the Bulawayo giants in January.
“We have a lot of work to do to make things happen. We didn’t perform and you don’t win it if you don’t perform.
Our midfield did not function in any form; that is where it went wrong. If you can’t keep the ball, then you can’t win football matches,” Harrison said.
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He has promised to parade an entertaining side, but the match against FC Platinum showed that they are still far from where they desire to be.
“On that performance, we have to work on everything. What we have been doing at training, we didn’t bring to the field today. We have to keep working on it and make sure that when we approach games we come with a better attitude and better application,” the Bosso mentor said.
Highlanders might have been hoodwinked by the two friendly matches they played before the Castle Challenge Cup when they beat Black Rhinos 1-0 at Barbourfields and Chapungu 2-1, but they were outclassed by FC Platinum on Saturday.
“All the work we have done in pre-season so far, the way they (the players) were looking was good but today they just did not show up. Probably only two of the 11 could walk away with pride from that performance but the other nine were well below par,” Harrison said after the match.
From last year’s squad, Harrison had only two new faces, Mkhokheli Dube and Michelle Katsvairo in the starting line-up, but the veterans struggled.
