DESPITE a poor run of form in their last eight games, Highlanders assistant coach Joel Luphahla believes the Bulawayo giants are still in the race to win the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League title.
Statistically, they are still in it, but their recent show has seen their chances diminish considerably.
It has been 17 years since Bosso last won the league title.
Their latest poor show was on Sunday at Barbourfields Stadium where they were held to a goalless draw by relegation candidates Cranborne Bullets on a day when skipper Ariel Sibanda woefully missed a penalty, sending the ball over the crossbar.
But Luphahla is still hopeful with seven games to go before the curtain comes down on the 2023 season.
“We continue trying to work very hard. We are seven games away from finishing the season. We are going to give our best. We are going to give our all. Maybe with a little bit of luck, we can collect 21 points from the seven games that are there. We are playing Green Fuel on Wednesday and I am hoping that some of these boys who have been struggling with injuries and illnesses will be back,” said Luphahla, who reckoned they have been hard done by injuries, especially to playmaker Devine Mhindirira.
The Bosso legend added: “There are 21 points to play for. I think we are eight points behind. We still believe even when we were going into this match, we believed we could still climb to where we wanted to be. Ngezi might drop points and we might win on Wednesday and we will be back to five points. At the end of the day, we just have to believe and we have to be very positive to our boys. The boys must feed off from the positivity that we show them. I am still confident that Ngezi can drop two games and we win two, then we are back in contention.”
Highlanders’ last delight was winning the Independence Trophy after beating Dynamos in a penalty shootout in the final in April and they were kicked out of the prestigious Chibuku Super Cup in the quarter-finals in front of their home crowd last month.
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Ngezi, with 54 points, appear to be running away with the title after opening an eight-point gap on second-placed FC Platinum and Highlanders in the third spot who are both on 46 points.
Ngezi Platinum beat Chicken Inn on Saturday and are tomorrow away to Dynamos who are on 43 points, while FC Platinum are back home at Mandava to play Black Rhinos after losing to ZPC Kariba over the weekend.
Dynamos have a game in hand against Manica Diamonds who are also on 43 points and take on Yadah on Thursday at home.
