All pointing to the good for Lulu . . . Bosso on a 60 percent success rate

By Fungai Muderere

Saturday marks one month 11 days since Mandla “Lulu” Mpofu took charge of his first game at Highlanders after taking over the coaching reins from legendary Madinda Ndlovu.

On 6 July, under the guidance of Mpofu and his assistant Bekithemba Ndlovu, Bosso held free spending Ngezi Platinum Stars to a one-all draw in what many deemed to be a positive start to life without Madinda for the ECD project.

Since then, the Bulawayo giants have thrilled fans and entertained everyone else with their fast-paced football and in the process posted two other identical one-all draws (against FC Platinum and Manica Diamonds).

Most recently, with wins seemingly eluding them and at a time when Bosso fans were wondering what sort of a manager Mpofu would make at this success-starved club, the former Chicken Inn and Bulawayo City gaffer, led his side to two duplicate one-nil triumphs over Chapungu and Premier Soccer League championship favourites Black Rhinos.

Last Saturday’s win over Chauya Chipembere meant that Bosso had collected six points in a space of four days having overcome Chapungu by a similar margin last Wednesday at the same venue.

Consequently, from the five games he has presided over after assuming Madinda’s position, the straight-talking Mpofu, has seen his charges collect a total of nine points from a possible 15.

This means under Mpofu, the black and white army is on a 60 percent success rate and he seemingly has all the traits to bring the joy of football back to Bosso fans.

“We hope this momentum can get better going forward,” said Mpofu.

He is, however, not getting carried away with the winning impetus with his worry being how to maintain that.

“If we keep winning, there is pressure of winning the next game so from now, we are celebrating but we are planning for the next game, how best can we keep this momentum, which is very important but going forward of course as a technical team we have to dig even deeper to make sure that we continue getting these results,” he said.

Mpofu’s boys, whom Madinda abandoned after 12 games at the helm in the 2019 season, masterminding three wins, five draws and four losses (39% success rate), have managed to score five goals against three and are now on position nine with five wins, eight draws and four defeats. B-Metro