admin
Substitute Beavan Chikaka, who had come on for Graham Ncube who had a decent game, was hacked down inside the box by Partson Jaure in the 70th minute and spot-on Victoria Falls-based referee, Hardlife Ndazi rightfully pointed to the spot.
For reasons best known to themselves, Dynamos players, led by stand-in goalkeeper George Chigova mobbed the referee resulting in almost three minutes of stoppage. It had to take goalkeepers’ coach, Tichaona Diya to intervene before his players took their positions for play to resume. They are lucky that the referee let them off the hook as indiscipline once again continued to dog the Harare side.
When Maphosa stepped up to take the responsibility, he sent his shot to the left of Chigova who dived and punched the ball back into play, sending a packed Mpilo end of the stadium into delirium.
The miss could have affected Maphosa as his performance went down thereafter.
The visitors had taken a stunning second minute lead through Takesure Chinyama who unleashed one of his trademark shots from inside the 12-yard box which hit the roof of the nets with goalkeeper Ariel Sibanda having no chance of stopping it.
Besides the early goal, Sibanda had a good day in the office with his best being an acrobatic save in the 66th minute off a curling Ocean Mushure free kick.
Bosso never panicked but instead took the game to Dynamos, at one time literally camping in their half but could not get the equaliser.
The equaliser could have come in the 31st minute when Milton Ncube came to the end of a good move involving Peter Moyo, who played a blinder, but Ncube’s header missed the target by inches.
Bosso were on the warpath and kept on bombarding Dynamos willy-nilly and a goal was always coming and it did come exactly two minutes after Ncube’s missed header.
An in-swinger from the right came in and saw Ncube rising high above his marker and goalkeeper Chigova came off his line to try and cut it but he was slower to the action. The ball beat him and went into an empty net although Jaure tried without success to clear but only helped drill the ball in as it had already crossed the line.
DeMbare tried to hit back with Chinyama releasing another bullet from the box in the 38th minute that however found Sibanda waiting. A minute later he was brought down by captain Innocent Mapuranga just outside the box and referee again made a good call by signalling for a free kick and the Orlando Pirates bound Chinyama took the responsibility. His effort was blocked by a six-man Highlanders wall.
The ever-dangerous Milton Makopa was at it again four minutes before the breather but his header was again agonisingly off target with Sibanda off the action.
Munawa was brought down by Makopa who had a good day in the office together with Cliff Sekete and the resultant free kick saw Chigova make a brilliant save with the Soweto end already up to celebrate a goal.
The first half ended with the two local giants still tied.
The first half saw Dynamos using the right wing for their raids with Sekete a constant menace as DeMbare coach Callisto Pasuwa realised that Bosso leftback Bruce Kangwa was constantly overlapping and when he did that no one was covering for him.
Kelvin Kaindu brought in Chikaka for Graham who seemed to have picked up a knock as he was no longer keeping the Dynamos defence of stand-in captain Guthrie Zhokinyi and Jaure on their toes.
Besides the conceded and missed penalty, most of the play in the second half was punctuated by brilliant build-ups from both sides that however did not produce any goals.
The visitors had a better show in the second half.
“We came here to win but unfortunately that did not happen. We are happy with the draw though because it’s not easy to come here and win,” said DeMbare assistant coach Tonderai Ndiraya.
He said their strikeforce could have done much better.
Bosso coach Kaindu was also content with the final result although visibly not happy with the draw which takes them to 15 games without a defeat.
“It’s good that we have finished the first half not knowing what it feels like to lose. The boys played according to our plan and I think they did well,” said Kaindu.
About 20 000 fans paid their way into Barbourfields Stadium to witness the Battle of Zimbabwe Part One with both sets of fans behaving sportingly save for the perimeter fence that was pulled down by suspected Dynamos fans at the Mpilo end as they celebrated Chinyama’s stunning opener. The fence was however pulled up and there were no major incidents after that.
Teams
Highlanders: A Sibanda, A Musasa, B Kangwa, I Mapuranga, E Mudzingwa, M Maphosa, P Moyo, G Ncube (B Chikaka 52nd minute), M Ncube (O Zibande 80th minute), M Mambare, S Munawa (A Ndiweni 63rd minute).
Unused subs: H Masuku, H Moyo, D Ndlovu, M Diya
Dynamos: G Chigova, M Makopa, T Muparati, R Mutuma (M Vengesai 56th minute), G Zhokinyi, T Mabvura, P Jaure, O Mushure, T Chinyama (A Kaseloki 76th minute), C Sekete (D Kabwe 86th minute)
Unused subs: D Chafa, T Magorimbo, P Nhete.
Online Reporter