Highlands Park continue their NFD League winning streak in the race for premiership status
JOBURG - Highlands Park's strategy to win promotion inside the league and avoid dreaded play-offs is paying dividends.
Highlands Park has continued its winning streak on its National First Division (NFD) journey to return to premiership football.
Hot from the Nedbank Cup last 32 loss to fellow NFD side Stellenbosch, Highlands coach Owen Da Gama returned to his priority mission with his team walloping Jomo Cosmos 4–0 in a match played in Vosloorus, Ekurhuleni on 18 February.
Although Da Gama has steadfastly refused to grant interviews to celebrate his amazing achievements at the helm of Highlands, it is believed he fielded a weaker side against Stellenbosch to rest some of his star players for the crucial matches ahead in the NFD title race.
Da Gama is understood to have indicated he would like to focus all his attention on the title race as he did not want to go the route of play-offs as this did not guarantee success. The team has opened a lead of nine points at the summit of the league and Da Gama did not want to lose that momentum by putting their energy into the cup competition.
A source close to the team told North Eastern Tribune editor Sipho Siso that Da Gama had made no secret about his priorities in the camp, which are to return the team to the prestigious Absa Premiership next season.
According to the source, Da Gama wants to wrap up the title race with a number of games in hand.
Highlands are sitting on 44 points from 21 matches while nearest rivals, Real Kings has 35 points from the same number of matches. With only nine games to go, the source said Da Gama did not want to take any chances and hence he decided to rest some of his star performers in the Nedbank Cup clash.
Highlands’ next game is a home fixture on 25 February against relegation-threatened Uthongathi FC and if they notch up another win, they could easily be home and dry.
