MBABANE - A new forward is expected to join winless Mbabane Highlanders.
While his name was kept secret, it was leaked that the team’s Managing Director (MD) Chief Ally Kgomongwe has taken it upon himself to recruit a good foreign striker. He was recently quoted saying he was not wholly satisfied with the current breed of foreign players they signed. This was after the recent PLE Trade Fair Cup 2023. “We had been talking to him for a while now. He’s agreed to come to Eswatini to join us as our only foreign striker, but there’re a few things to tie up with him before he can travel to join the team at training. He used to play for SA’s National U20s (Amajita), before he went overseas, but he’s back now.
affirmed
“He’ll work with Sibusiso Tfwala and Musa Dlamini upfront,” Kgomongwe affirmed. Unfortunately, should the said forward arrive he will find former Amajita coach, Solomon ‘Solly’ Luvhengo gone, after he took up an offer to be an assistant in his former team at home, Black Leopards, where he was introduced to the players on Monday afternoon. Luvhengo left Highlanders a day after he lost 2-1 to minnows Madlenya FC in the MTN Premier League opener, before the MoMo Cup 2-1 Mbabane Derby defeat last Saturday. He was released hours after the derby loss. “We clearly need to beef up the squad as two defeats in a row tell you there’s something wrong. We will keep working towards ensuring the squad is rightly balanced. We still have pending issues with ‘Pupu’ and ‘Jekwa’, which we hope we can settle soon,” Kgomongwe said.
He missed the derby match for once, while he had always made sure he was present before, which motivated his players. Luvhengo’s sacking leaves the black and white Inkunz’emnyama, as Highlanders are fondly known, without a head coach but assistant Dumsani ‘DU’ Makhanya and Physical Trainer Siyabonga Bhembe at the helm. Kgomongwe said they would announce their new coach in good time, but at the moment he had no idea. It is an open secret though that Kgomongwe has once shown interest in former Moneni Pirates and now Illovo coach, Gcina Dlamini, who also linked with the position ahead of Luvhengo hiring.
Meanwhile, Highlanders’ new foreign players are Ghanaian Emmanuel Owuso Ansah, South Africans Noko Malekana and Ndou Matamela. Only Ansah and Malekana played in the derby clash last weekend and fans from both sets of teams seemed to approve of the former, after he displayed a good and convincing performance before tiring midway through the second half.