Highlands toast record romp
Shalulile bags a brace of awards at new NFD kings
En route to their automatic promotion to the Premiership, newly crowned National First Division (NFD) champions Highlands Park broke a number of records.
Highlands sealed the deal by a record points tally of 69, 19 ahead of runners-up Black Leopards.
However, the Lions of the North could not break the record for least defeats in a season (two, set by Thanda Royal Zulu last season).
The Owen da Gamacoached outfit suffered three losses in the season that concluded on Sunday.
“It was a team effort. We did not aim [to break] any records but we are happy that we manage to exceed our own expectations. We scored 65 goals and only conceded 13, that shows we are a complete team,” Da Gama said yesterday.
“We won’t be resting on our laurels. We know that there’s still a lot of work lying ahead of us.”
On Monday night, Highlands rolled out the red carpet for those players who contributed to their impressive season.
The midfield duo of Mothobi Mvala and Sphiwe Mahlangu were voted Player of the Season and Young Player of the Season respectively, while Peter Shalulile was the biggest winner on the night, walking away with the top scorer (for his 15 goals) and Players’ Player of the Season gongs.
Veteran goalkeeper Tapuwa Kapini received the Chairman’s Award.