The match was played in front in a sizeable crowd of around 20,000 well in excess of anticipated numbers. In fact this number is much less than that which actually made the trip to the stadium, in other words what could have been inside the stadium had they not run out of printed tickets, put simply noone had anticipated this level of success for this game.

On the field of play coach Mohammed Fathi adopted somewhat of a cautious approach given the absence of some key players notably Stephen Alimenda and Gift Lunga Jnr who could not travel due to not having passports as well as it being an away fixture. From the back to the first half of the middle of the park Highl;anders completely dominated play, it was however in the final third or so that we simply did not have sufficient firepower to dislodge a tenacious Cosmos.

Both teams missed not more than three clear cut chances apiece with Highlanders coming the closest around the 70th minute with the Cosmos defense well beaten Protasho Kabwe saw his chance go agonisingly literally millimitres over the bar.

However beyond the actual action in the middle of the park the significance of Highlanders playing in front of their now emmigrated supporters nearly brought tears of joy to some, it was an awesome occassion. It was like being eMagumeni all over again as the farmiliar songs could be heard reverbarating over the stands through Doornfontein. The Johannesburg Stadium turned into a virtual home ground for Highlanders with folks travelling from as far as the East Rand, the Northern Surbubs and of course the surrounding neighbourhoods which are known to be home to hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans the likes of Hillbrow, Berea, and Yeoville. Tens of thousands of people could still be seen streaming towards the stadium as alas they ran out of tickets.

Thanks must go to the Highlanders executive, Jomo Cosmos, SAWIMA, various performers, curtain raisers, the various sponsors and dignitaries who included former Kaiser Cheifs, Sundowns, Platinum Stars star striker Simba Marumo who is now president of the South African Players Union who all participated in this venture. It proived beyonf doubt that this can in fact be done again. Lakusasa lingadinwa bakithi.

Photo: The Eastern Stand (equivalent of Empankweni) which was already full 30 min from kickoff.