Manzini Wanderers vs Mbabane Swallows: A quarterfinal to savour

And so it begins. It is the beginning of a week which will culminate in Manzini Wanderers taking on rivals Mbabane Swallows in the a-list fixture of the SMVAF Ingwenyama Cup quarterfinals. For all their flaws, Manzini Wanderers have all the ammunition to knock the seemingly unbeatable Swallows out of the tournament and announce their return to the big time in grand style.

The Weslians are long overdue some piece of silverware. They last won an official trophy in 2003, lifting their sixth League title. It’s getting close to becoming a full 15 years of a proper drought. A decade and a half without a major piece of silverware for one of the country’s grandest sides. Even the 2005 Charity Cup triumph is a long time ago now. Wanderers need a trophy. On the road to redemption, they face the biggest test imaginable this coming Sunday, a date with Swallows in the Ingwenyama Cup last 8.

Their recent record against the ‘Birds’ does not make for riveting reading. They lost their last meeting 0-1 in the MTN Premier League in September. Last season, they drew in the penultimate League match of the season while they lost the first round encounter 0-2. At the back end of the 2015/16 season, Swallows thrashed Wanderers 6-0 in the League. They had also beaten the Weslians 1-3 in the first round in November 2015.

But Wanderers shouldn’t despair. This, for one, is a cup competition. Secondly, for all their troubles for much of the close to 15 years since they last won a major trophy, Wanderers are a club reborn this season under coach Nyanga ‘Crooks’Hlophe. The Weslians should find solace in the fact that they have a coach who has seen it all and won it all with the same Swallows in the past. Hlophe has already declared that the Ingwenyama and SwaziBank Cup are matters of interest for his side. Now they have to navigate past the biggest test they could think of in Swallows.

Wanderers are not in the quarterfinals of the Ingwenyama Cup by mistake however. They certainly deserve to be there. They are not fourth in the Premier League standings by mistake too. Hlophe has instilled discipline to this side, a feature never found in Wanderers’ recent squads. His side functions as a proper team, finessed by the individual brilliance and talents of captain Lwazi ‘Shana’ Maziya, winger Mike Dombo and forward Kola Aladeon.

Shana, particularly, has been in inspired form this season. He was the match winner in Wanderers’ biggest win of the season so far, a 1-0 win over Young Buffaloes last month in the league on a cold evening at Somhlolo National Stadium. There is something about Maziya and his headed goals.

That win over Buffaloes was widely celebrated by the Wanderers fans. If their team puts in a similar shift this coming weekend, then they might be celebrating an even bigger scalp by the time the dust settles at Somhlolo on Sunday.