‘BULL’ SWALLOW ‘BIRDS’

LOBAMBA – A picture-perfect rainbow overshadowing the Mdzimba Mountain; over-the-top celebrations; exchanged blows and kisses.

All these and more characterised Mbabane Highlanders clipping Swallows’ wings en route to the quarter-finals of the Ingwenyama Cup here yesterday. Yesterday’s derby delight was a cocktail of some questionable refereeing decision by Mbongeni Shongwe in turning a blind eye to two penalty incidents involving Swallows, diffident goalkeeping by Swallows goalminder, Sandanezwe Mathabela in allowing himself to be beaten by a meek shot by Kenneth Moloto two minutes before half-time and hyperbole celebrations that threatened to degenerate into full-blown chaos as all sorts of missiles exchanged hands in the aftermath.

Fortuitous

On a perfect day, a rousing crowd of about 8 000 people watching, the football itself was lukewarm with neither side creating clear-cut chances but when it mattered most, Highlanders scored a fortuitous goal by the twinkle-toed Moloto, signed from Ally’s Tigers F.C, which effectively ended Swallows’ nine-game unbeaten run over their bitter rivals in all competitions.
It was also Highlanders’ first win – in all competitions - since they last beat Young Movers 2-0 in the self-same Ingwenyama Cup last 32 stage during the grand opening ceremony here on November 24.

Not since April 3, 2016, when Highlanders beat Swallows 2-1 in a league game, have the ‘Black Bull’ celebrated a win over their sworn rivals and the celebrations that greeted yesterday’s final whistle told the story better. It was orgasmic. It was brutally brilliant and soulfully captivating. It even bordered on the insanity as one overjoyed fan literally stripped naked, exposing his humungous potbelly that looked like he had swallowed a whole bull as he danced like a pregnant rhinoceros with a spear on its back.

Palpable

Police officers had to intervene to stop the strip-tease side show from the man who was over-the-moon with palpable joy seeing his beloved Highlanders score the first goal in 223 minutes in the derby after two previous goalless draws in the league. Minister of Sports, Culture and Youth Affairs Harries ‘Madze’ Bulunga, Prince Masitsela, Prince Bukhosi, Chairman of the Ingwenyama Cup Committee Prince Hlangabeza, Premier League of Eswatini (PLE) Chairman Peter ‘Touch’ Magagula, Eswatini Football Association (EFA) president Adam ‘Bomber’ Mthethwa joined the thousands of fans who crammed the soccer Mecca to watch a derby, which in all honesty, never lived up to its pre-match billing.

The refereeing, in particular, an infringement on Swallows’ winger Wonder ‘Samba Jive’ Nhleko, upended by defender Jimoh Moses inside the box, in the 23rd minute, left a sour taste in the mouth. As the yin and yan of derby football dictates, under-fire Highlanders head coach Thabo ‘Koki’ Vilakati came out of tumultuous week with a smile as wide as the rainbow which illuminated the sky after the game while Swallows’ Zambian coach, Honour Janza, looked care-worn, run down and bedevilled – perhaps for some time now – by tactical indecisions that rendered his team impotent, ashen and devoid of ideas to penetrate a water-tight Highlanders defence led by the indefatigable Simphiwe Manana.

Humiliating

Janza was left with a face like thunder as Swallows suffered not only a humiliating loss to their bitter rivals, but their shortcomings – having started with basically four wingers, no creative midfielder -  were ruthlessly exposed by a patient Highlanders which had been dominating newspaper headlines the whole week for all the wrong reasons. The road to redemption looks even longer and painful for Janza while Koki’s reunion with the Highlanders family, like all marriages, has had its ups and downs and from this priceless victory, the wedding vows could be renewed in the strongest ‘for better or worse’, ever imagined.

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