Gunners. . . . . . . . 0 Highlanders . . .(1) 1 Wasteful Highlanders bounced back to winning ways after scrapping past a depleted Gunners side in a Castle Lager Premier Soccer League match at Lafarge Stadium in Harare yesterday.
The current log leaders’ striking pair of Beaven Chikaka and Graham Ncube was so poor that Bosso needed a first-half own goal by Gunners defender Moses Demera to collect maximum points.
However, Bosso coach Kevin Kaindu would not care less how his team won.
The result saw the Bulawayo giants open a four-point lead ahead of the chasing pack.
As for Gunners, their season continues to explode right in their face.
Yesterday’s loss was their third in a row. Gunners were missing seven of their regular players in yesterday’s match.
The quartet of Fungai Chirinda, Byron Madzokere, Ndaba Valentine and Hardlife Zvirekwi are reported to be club hunting in South Africa while their influential midfielder Cliff Sekete is understood to have finally joined city rivals Dynamos.
Captain Pardon Chinungwa was on suspension.
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Kaindu was all smiles after the match: “This was a very important win for us especially that we had gone three games without collecting maximum points. It was not one of our best games maybe because of the state of the pitch, but we managed to get the points. We are not bad at all.”
Gunners coach Thanks Tengwe, whose side piled pressure on their visitors and could have found the equaliser had defender Innocent Mapuranga not cleared the ball off the line, is still hopeful.
Tengwe vowed his team would not be relegated. “It’s not looking good. We are going through a bad patch. We had seven new faces in the squad and I should say I’m very happy with the way they played.
“With this kind of performance, relegation is out of the question. It’s just that these guys are yet to gel as a team, but I’m sure we will get there,” said Tengwe.
As expected, the visitors started the match strongly with the exciting Masimba Mambare testing Gunners goalkeeper Prosper Chigumba from inside the box early on.
But it was the hosts who almost got the opener moments later when defensive midfielder Mthulisi Maphosa directed his header towards his own nets and goalkeeper Ariel Sibanda had to make a reaction save to keep the “effort” out.
Despite the early scare, Highlanders continued to pile on the pressure and the dominance paid off on 32 minutes when Demera, clearly unmarked inside the box, comically directed Mambare’s seemingly harmless cross into his own nets. Gunners came back strongly in the second half, but goals did not come with striker William Manondo wasting a good chance.
The FC Platinum on-loan striker raced clear, but his tame shot could not trouble Sibanda.
