Constituency tournaments power Highlanders

Lekopanye Mooketsi | Thursday July 17, 2014 11:48

He explained that they will rely on their promotion winning squad which was largely drawn from the constituency tournaments. He said they will reinforce the squad with two Zimbabwean players from TAFIC, a midfielder and a striker who was loaned to BMC.      

He said their players are excited to learn that they are not going to be off-loaded and this has boosted their morale. “You can just tell from their body language.”

Mokhurutshi said they want to emulate the other clubs from the north, Orapa United and FC Satmos who survived relegation in their maiden season in the topflight without signing big names.

He said their intention is to prove that football in the north is not dead, following the relegation of two teams from the region, TAFIC and Miscellaneous. He explained that they have decided not to recruit big names because their coach, Paul Moyo is good at grooming upcoming players.

“Since July last year, we recruited about 80 percent of our players from the constituency tournaments and this is the same squad that is going to carry us through,” Mokhurutshi said. 

BR Highlanders played in the Premier League for the first time two seasons ago, but lasted only one campaign before sinking back to the First Division. Mokhurutshi said they have evaluated their mistakes and are eager to avoid relegation.

BR Highlanders appeared ill-prepared during their maiden season in the topflight. Mokhurutshi said they have been preparing for the Premier League since July last year after they were relegated.  “Our programme started last year. It is only a question of continuity,” he explained. He stated that there is no big difference between the First Division and the Premier League.

BR Highlanders will use the Serowe Sports Stadium as its home ground though Mokhurutshi said this is a disadvantage. Hence, they intend to complete renovations at their stadium before the end of the season so that they would take their games to the Mahalapye community. 

According to the draft fixtures, BR Highlanders will start against FC Satmos in Selebi-Phikwe on August 8. 

Their next five league matches are against big guns and Mokhurutshi said this is an advantage as the fancied sides will not have gained momentum.