Highlanders . . . . . . . . . . .(0) 2 Gunners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (1) 1
Highlanders striker Graham Ncube became his side’s two-goal hero and the victim of referee Nkosana Nduna’s heavy-handedness after he was shown the red card as Bosso completed a double over Gunners in an exciting Castle Lager Premiership match at Barbourfields Stadium on Sunday.
Highlanders came back from behind to collect maximum points as Ncube got his first goal immediately after the breather with credit going to attacking midfielder Bruce Kangwa, who rose from the bench to inject life into an otherwise lifeless first half.
Ncube then powered a stinger in the 54th minute to put Highlanders in the lead only for Nduna to give him his marching orders eight minutes later for a foul on Gunners’ Ali Sadiki inside Bosso’s half.
Highlanders beat Gunners by the same scoreline in the first round of the league in Harare.
Gunners drew first blood four minutes into the match from young forward Leonard Fiyado after a defensive mix-up by Highlanders following a bungled clearance by goalkeeper Arial Sibanda.
Sibanda received a backpass from central defender Innocent Mapuranga who fluffed the clearance and the ball fell into Michelle Katsvairo’s path whose effort was once gain badly cleared, meeting Fiyado who beat the goalkeeper all systems out.
From then on, the Highlanders’ defence was jittery and was often caught at sixes and sevens especially on young Honest Moyo’s flank, on which the Gunners players had a field day.
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The Gunners’ quartet of Cliff Sekete, Sadiki, Moses Muchenje and Fiyado had the Highlanders’ midfield of Bekithemba “Super” Ndlovu, Louis Matawu, Rahman Kutsanzira and Eric Mudzingwa chasing shadows for the entire first half with brilliant passes, but the goals were not coming.
But Highlanders seemed hungrier for goals than the visitors and that paid off in the 46th minute when Kangwa was brought down inside Gunners’ half.
Kangwa let off a screamer which eluded Gunners shotstopper George Chigova and hit the right upright post. Before he could make a second attempt at stopping the shot, Ncube had buried the rebound.
Veteran Ndlovu then won the ball in the centre and pushed it to Mudzingwa, who spotted Ncube on a run, who fired a thunderbolt which ensured Bosso collected maximum points after a long drought.
After that Ncube met his fate, which will see him not playing the next two matches against Masvingo and Monomotapa.
Highlanders gaffer Mkhuphali “Mr Cooper” Masuku was elated and said a top-eight finish would be good for the Bulawayo side.
“The boys showed the hunger to win. We managed to score from the chances that we created although we missed several of them.
“A top-eight finish will be good for us. The performance by the boys was fantastic,” Masuku said.
Gunners’ coach Chunga, who appeared unimpressed by match officiating, with his charges confronting the referee, who quickly sought the refuge of the police said he had no comment except that the media had a tendency of misquoting him.
