Mkhuphali 'Cooper' Masuku reflects on past, future at Highlanders

IN this article that will give you an in-depth story of what is happening in the Highlanders dressing room, we will just have a re-look of the BancABC Sup8r Cup final match that we lost to Motor Action 1-0 about a fortnight ago.

We will also have a look into our weekend encounter against Zimbabwe Saints in Hwange where we will be battling it out in a first round Mbada Diamond Cup match.

It was in indeed painful to watch my charges fall to Motor Action in that BancABC Sup8r cup final. The final pitted two great teams but against a background of having too many injured players and the fact that our usually dependable right back Lawson Nkomo was out due to suspension, as the Highlanders technical department we had a lot of challenges thus we had to make other players play in unfamiliar positions.

For tactical purposes we thought of having veteran Gift "Thebe" Lunga (jnr) start on the bench and Graham "Grazo" Ncube had picked a knock the previous week thus we thought it was prudent to make him start on the bench for he had passed a late fitness test.

We brought in Thebe and Grazo late in the second half when we had thrown everything into attack.

But we could not get that equaliser despite the fact that the duo had raised the tempo of the game in our favour.

It was very disheartening to lose an opportunity to lift our second silverware of the year 2011. Remember we won this year's edition of the Independence Cup when we beat our long time rivals Dynamos through penalty shootouts.

A chance to do that on home soil had gloriously presented itself .Alas, the football ghosts haunted us in front of our die hard fans and in our favourite hunting ground where we have buried highly fancied teams like FC Platinum in league encounters. The entire technical department was disappointed even the players themselves. I was really pained to see Lawson Nkomo shedding tears while others that included our captain Gilbert Banda wore long faces struggling to come into terms with that 1-0 defeat.
But all I can say is the loss against Motor Action should not ring alarm bells for we are not a bad side. The BancABC Sup8r Cup final has come and gone, we apologise for the loss to the entire Highlanders family. That should not have happened but I am glad another opportunity to lift a prestigious silverware has presented itself in the form of Mbada Diamond Cup which we begin contesting for on Saturday when we face city rivals Zimbabwe Saints.

The Saturday game will not be an easy one. We welcome back Eric Mudzingwa, Lawson Nkomo and Bruce Tshuma who did not feature in our league game against Blue Ribbon which we however won 1-0 courtesy of that Grazo late strike.

The trio is back but the way how they trained with the rest of the squad during the course of the week will determine if they will make into the team. Their bouncing back is obviously a big psychological booster for the rest of the squad for they have seen it all in Highlanders colours.

It's a self motivating game and while Zimbabwe Saints are struggling in the premier league campaign, let me hasten to say we cannot afford to underestimate them. I believe the Chauya Chikwata players are equally irked for the game for it is a cup game. The players know each other, some grew up together, they stay in the same city (Bulawayo) and some have played together at different clubs.

The message has been bold and clear to my boys 'You can under estimate Saints at your own peril". We will certainly go out there for a. win. There are no injury worries, we have a clean bill.

I guess it will be all smiles to everyone who belongs to this big Highlanders family after the match on Saturday. To our supporters I say a chance for a Highlanders road show has presented itself and worse still we are taking on city rivals away from home.

Let's go to Hwange and beat Chikwata. Thank you to the team's followers for being with us through thick and thin.