Highlanders train comes off the rails with draw
Ricky Zililo in Bulawayo
Chicken Inn………………………………..0
Highlanders……………………………….0
BULAWAYO giants Highlanders may be enjoying a record 21-match unbeaten run but it may not prove enough for them to lift the Castle Lager Premiership title after they stuttered to their eighth draw when being held by Chicken Inn at Barbourfieds yesterday.
After yesterdays life-less draw, reality should be creeping in that the title hopes are slowly fading away with some bad refereeing and of course the technical team’s own ineptitude. The result left Bosso trailing defending champions Dynamos who beat Harare City 1-0 in Harare by two points.
Highlanders have amassed 47 points. Highlanders’ coach Kelvin Kaindu conceded that they played below par and was actually lucky to have come out with a point on their bad day. “We failed to play the way we were supposed to. There was a bit of complacency from our side but we thank God that we got a point,” Kaindu said.
Kaindu, however, said he was unfazed about the possibility of the championship slipping away from his grip with the Zambian expatriate insisting they were not worried about how other teams were playing. The Bosso coach added that they would continue to work on their shortcomings.
But credit in yesterday’s game should go to Chicken Inn who had a disciplined display with a compact defence well marshaled by the steady Felix Chindungwe who has been in sublime form for the Gamecocks. Adam Ndlovu’s men were by far the better team of the day even though Highlanders created chances which they failed to utilise.
They were first to most of the balls in midfield and showed the hunger to get a positive result and one would have thought it was them who are in the championship mix. Their strategy to play the man and frustrate Highlanders through feigning injuries appeared to work too with the aid of some bad officiating by Philani Ncube.
The way Chicken Inn dominated also highlighted the extent to which Bosso missed the services of the injured Masimba Mambare in a midfield that had Mthulisi Maphosa, Peter ‘Rio’ Moyo, Bhekimpilo Ncube, Simon Munawa and Milton Ncube.
So bad were things that the usually dependable Highlanders’ creative duo of Maphosa and Moyo who could not turn on the magic had to be substituted in the second half with Maphosa making way for Beavan Chikaka in the 56th minute while Arnold Ndiweni came in for Moyo in the later stages of the game.
The match had started with the Chicken Inn showing that they meant business as early as the third minute when former Soccer Star of the Year Evans Chikwaikwai forced the best out of national team goalkeeper Ariel Sibanda off a long-range effort.
National Under-20 star Kudakwashe Mahachi escaped without a card in the sixth minute when he retaliated on Atlast Musasa after a challenge but referee Ncube let him off the hook.
Chicken Inn could have finished the game with 10 men when their veteran defender Herbert Dick clumsily went for a double open foot challenge on Peter “Rio” Moyo in the 11th minute and got away with a yellow card.
Bosso were always second to the ball with Chicken Inn dominating in possession but they failed to make use of that with Tendai Ndoro fluffing a good scoring chance in the 23rd minute. This was after Chikwaikwai had benefited from a long pass from Chindungwe before sending a cross to an unmarked Ndoro in the box who then directed his header off target.
Highlanders’ got a half-chance in the 40th minute when Milton Ncube after being set up by Moyo dribbled past Brian Mbiriri and came face to face with Chicken Inn’s Njabulo Nyoni. Somehow Milton opted for the near post where the goalkeeper was standing and Nyoni punched the ball to safety.
On the stroke of halftime, Lenience ‘Qobho’ Mpofu missed a good chance when choosing the most difficult to blast his effort way over the bar in the 12-yard area with only Sibanda to beat. Highlanders came back from the breather with a positive attitude, which however faded along the way.
Milton could not direct his 51st minute effort at goal and four minutes later Maphosa’s goal bound header desperately cleared by two Chicken Inn defenders with Nyoni nowhere in action.
Highlanders had another chance that went begging in the 64th minute after Moyo exhibited sheer stroke of individual brilliance dribbling past Thabani Goredema, sent in a pass to Graham who reacted a shade late and his effort at goal was blocked by Chindungwe.
“It was a tough game but I think we could have gone with maximum points but we got a point which is better. We were compact in defence and managed to congest the midfield because that is where their (Highlanders) strength is,” said Chicken Inn’s assistant coach Mandla Mpofu. The Herald
Teams:
Chicken Inn: N Nyoni, M Jackson, F Chindungwe, H Dick, B Mbiriri, T Ndoro (M Ncube, 70th minute), L Mpofu (M Marima 85th minute), E Chikwaikwai, T Goredema, K Mahachi (C Nkomo 90th minute), S Linyama
Highlanders: A Sibanda, I Mapuranga, E Mudzingwa, B Kangwa, A Musasa, M Maphosa (B Chikaka, 56th minute), P Moyo (A Ndiweni, 87th minute), B Ncube, M Ncube, S Munawa, G Ncube (H Moyo, 76th minute).
