Highlanders’s journey of misery

Sport
DESPITE the 0-4 mauling by Harare City and the 1-1 draw with Motor Action in the last matches of the league when head coach Kelvin Kaindu was away, Highlanders’ poor home performances contributed immensely to them surrendering the title to perennial rivals Dynamos.

DESPITE the 0-4 mauling by Harare City and the 1-1 draw with Motor Action in the last matches of the league when head coach Kelvin Kaindu was away, Highlanders’ poor home performances contributed immensely to them surrendering the title to perennial rivals Dynamos.

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The embarrassing defeat to Harare City on November 17 dealt Bosso a heavy blow as they lost the title by a goal difference once more, but a wholesome look at how the Bulawayo giants fared from day one will also project how the championship skirted Highlanders.

Bosso lost 19 points at Barbourfields Stadium (BF) in Bulawayo this season and only picked up a point from a possible 12 from all the four Bulawayo derbies played against new boys How Mine and Chicken Inn, who got promoted into the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League in 2011.

Their first loss at Emagumeni was 0-1 to relegated Motor Action on April 14 and that heralded Bosso’s bad showing in front of their multitude of fans before succumbing to a 1-2 defeat to How Mine on May 26.

The third loss was 0-1 to Chicken Inn, a defeat that marked the close of the first half of the season.

In the second half of the season they drew 1-1 with the GameCox at BF on July 14 before How Mine dismissed them again 1-0 on September 15.

On October 27, Dynamos beat them 1-0 to hand them their last defeat at Emagumeni.

In July, Highlanders chairman Peter Dube told club members at an extraordinary general meeting that they were not happy with the team’s performance at BF and assured them that management and the board were looking into the issue.

“It’s something which we are extremely worried about and are working on, together with the board,” Dube said then.

But Bosso went on to acquire mediocre players in mid-season in Master Masitara and Tinashe Chipunza. They have not added any value to the team’s performance.

Graham Ncube, who had scored four goals and Cleopas Dube, who had better punch than the two acquisitions, were off-loaded.

Highlanders have been solely depending on veteran striker Njabulo “Tshiki” Ncube, especially towards the end of the league — and on Sunday when the burly forward was substituted in the 27th minute due to injury, the fire power upfront was lacking.

They could have beaten Shabanie Mine by a far wider margin to wrest the championship from the Glamour Boys.