Highlands get guillotine
Sundowns secure second spot to guarantee Caf Champions League
at Makhulong Stadium HIGHLANDS Park put up a gallant fight but it amounted to nothing as they were relegated to the National First Division after just one season in top-flight football.
A late surge gave the Lions of the North hope in an emotionally charged finish that saw the benches involved in heated exchanges. Those emotions were expected as there was a lot at stake. For Highlands, it was about survival and for the Brazilians it was about securing their place in next year’s Caf Champions League.
Sundowns achieved their objective, a consolation after surrendering the Absa Premiership to Bidvest Wits.
As Sundowns’ fans sang on the stand, home fans left dejected. The people of Tembisa had waited for 14 years to see a club from their hood involved in top-flight football when Highlands gained promotion last season. But those fans, who came out in their numbers to back their club by filling this 10 000 seater, weren’t given much time to enjoy that luxury.
Highlands were eager not to disappoint their passionate fans, taking the fight to the African champions.
They fought until the end. They did not drop their heads after the Brazilians went 2-0 up through Themba Zwane and Thabo Nthethe from the penalty spot. Seun Ledwaba offered a quick response. The harder Highlands fought, the louder the local crowd grew. Mothobi Mvala scored late but that goal wasn’t enough as Baroka FC won in Cape Town.
Highlands find themselves in this position because of their impatient management and porous defence. The club fired the man who took them to the promised land, Allan Freese, after just five matches. Without Freese, Highlands lost the cornerstone of their success — a resolute defence that kept 17 clean sheets in the first division.
The competition in the elite league and the NFD might be different, but Highlands held Sundowns for close to two hours last season in the Nedbank Cup as a first division to show how strong they were at the back. But it took them 22 matches in all competitions to get their first clean sheet in the premier division this season. Freese’s replacement, Gordon Igesund, didn’t do any better. The club won just two of the 21 league matches he was in charge of.
The management once again wield-
Lions of the North find themselves in this spot because of their impatient management
ed the axe, promoting Igesund’s assistant Thierry Mulonzo and Les Grobler to steady the sinking ship. The pair managed to move Highlands from the automatic relegation spot at the bottom, where they had sat for the most part of this campaign, taking them to 15th. The club returned to that unfortunate position on the last day of the league. It’s Bakgaga who have a second chance at survival by finishing 15th, meaning they will battle it out in the play-offs with Black Leopards and Stellenbosch FC.
The Brazilians’ fans stayed here for a long time, chanting Pitso Mosimane’s name. It’s a huge change from the impatient bunch that has “fired” coaches in the past.
But it’s also a sign of recognition for the work Mosimane has done with the Chloorkop-based side, taking them from rich underachievers to conquering the continent.