- Highlanders’ Moyo has been put on hold while management at Masitaoka is taking a hard look at Olebile
Gazette Reporter
With the Botswana Premier League (BPL) season past the half-way stage, the silly season of coaches’ revolving door is here.
Failure to collect sufficient points for bottom clubs is starting to show, with coaches becoming the casualties.
Bottom-placed side BR Highlanders announced over the weekend that the coach Blessing Moyo has been put on a month’s leave of absence following a string of poor results.
The Mahalapye side reached 15 games, the half way stage of the Premier League marathon, without a victory. Highlanders are the only side without a win in the 16-team assemblage. Their latest defeat came at the hands, or is it the feet, of another struggling side, Masitaoka, on Tuesday last week, prompting the club to take action.
It was the same week during which Moyo expressed optimism that Highlanders would turn the corner. “We are not doing badly,” he said. “We have been creating chances and what we need now is to convert. We were affected by departures in the offseason and we didn’t have a budget to replace the players who left.”
But Highlanders management felt Moyo was not taking ‘Stimela’ anywhere and placed him on a month’s leave, which must be a prelude a parting of ways.
Nelson Olebile’s future at Masitaoka remains uncertain while at Galaxy the initial poor results saw veteran coach Oris Radipotsane relegated to the development side amid reports of a rift with head coach Morena Ramoreboli.
Meanwhile, in weekend results, second-placed Township Rollers got their revenge over Masitaoka with a 1-0 win on Friday night. Masitaoka had brewed a shocker in the Orange Cup when they eliminated their illustrious opponents in December. But Mosha Gaolaolwe’s 66th minute goal ensured there would be no repeat of the giant killing behaviour.
The win moved Rollers to within five points of leaders Gaborone United with both teams having played 15 games. This ensures a close title race as the league enters its second and final lap.
Jwaneng Galaxy were the biggest winners of the weekend with a 3-0 victory. Galaxy are starting to climb up the ladder after a slow start to the season and are now fourth, 10 points off the pace.
Orapa United and Gilport Lions settled for a 1-1 stalemate in a result that did little for the two teams’ title hopes and relegation woes respectively.