Plumtree based Bulawayo Chiefs win promotion to PSL

Bulawayo Chiefs have secured promotion into the elite league after their nearest rivals Black Boots were held to a 2-2 draw by Ntabazinduna on Wednesday.

This result means Black Boots can only amass a total of 62 points if they were to win in their remaining two games of the season and yet Chiefs, who are already on 60 points, are already assured of reaching the 63 point mark since the team they were supposed to meet this weekend is no longer active. Amakhosi will be awarded maximum points.

Chiefs were scheduled to play against Mkhosana in Week 29 but the Victoria Falls-based side has long stopped fulfilling matches due to their failure to pay outstanding arrears owed to the league.

Speaking to journalists at a press briefing, Bulawayo Chiefs secretary Dumisani Mantula Sibanda paid tribute to his head coach Thulani "Thuts" Sibanda.

"We are excited by winning a slot in the top flight and this is largely because of the ideas that were implemented by our coach Thulani Sibanda," Sibanda said.

"The coach emphasized the importance of adequate preparation and as the management we supported him fully and he had an early start and that is why we did so well in the first ten games of the season."

This is the second time for "Thuts" Sibanda to lead a team into the top flight after he achieved the same with Quelaton in 2011 and the young coach admitted that preparation had been the key to his success.

"In football everything comes out of training and we did most of our homework during the pre-season.

"It was easy therefore even when I came back to the team after being away for some time to go back to what we had put in place earlier on during our pre-season training," Thulani Sibanda said.

He added that upon his return, the trick had been to balance between playing beautiful football and playing with a winning purpose.

"We had to balance between playing an attractive type of football and getting results and we decided that we should come up with a philosophy that would give us the goals, and we did just that," Thulani Sibanda said.

Nkosiyazi Ncube and Anzilom Ndlovu are the assistant coaches to Sibanda while Melusi Dube is the welfare manager.

The Chiefs secretary said they were committed to bringing top flight football to Plumtree and said plans were already underway to either spruce up Dingumuzi Stadium or put up a new structure altogether.