Bosso beat Shabanie

BULAWAYO giants Highlanders got their Castle Lager Premier Soccer League campaign off to a flying start with a deserved win over Shabanie Mine at Barbourfields yesterday.
In a match played before a noisy 10 000 crowd Bosso found their goals through Graham Ncube in the 24th minute, Eric Mudzingwa, after 70 minutes while Njabulo Ncube sealed the home team’s win towards the end.
Yet Shabanie were the first off the blocks when they forced two corners earlier on but the asbestos miners were hard done by poor execution from the set pieces.
Bosso then started clawing their way back into the game.
They started to exert some authority especially in midfield with Simon Munawa defying his height to out-do gangling Tafadzwa Mombeshora who was later substituted due to fatigue.
It was from the midfield where Highlanders’ first charge towards goal came from after a through pass found Micheck Mburayi who however was in a hurry to shoot for goal as he should have done much better by pushing forward by a few yards and remaining composed.
His shot expectedly went over the bar.
In the 17th minute Lawson Nkomo let loose a trademark scorcher, which was spilled by Mazingi before an alert Jonathan Chitereki, who had a good day in the office, cleared to safety.
By now Bosso had taken full control of the proceedings and a goal was always coming.
And it did arrive a few minutes after the Nkomo shot.
Following some intelligent passes that resulted in Ncube getting inside the box and ready to shoot, he was hacked down by Shabanie Mine’s Rodney Mwale and the referee Nkosana Nduna rightly pointed to the spot.
The pint sized Graham Ncube took the responsibility sending the experienced Roy Mazingi in goals for the visitors the wrong way.
Highlanders captain Gilbert Banda led from the front when his timely clearance from a header off a Chitereki cheeky cross saved the day with his goalkeeper Ariel Sibanda on the wrong side of action.
Highlanders made a half-time substitution, bringing in former Railstars striker Njabulo Ncube to replace Louis Matawu, who had missed a golden opportunity earlier in the 29th minute, sending his effort wide with an empty goal in front of him.
“It was not because of the miss that I took him out. He got a knock during the week and I told him prior to the match that he would only last for 45 minutes,” explained Masuku after the game.
In the 54th minute the gangly Mombeshora tried to play theatrics inside the box, falling down as if he had been hit, when his team was preparing to take a corner but the referee would have none of it.
The visitors seemed to have had a slight edge in the early stages of the second half, exhibiting some nice passes but they were always let down by their midfield and chief striker Caleb Masocha.
Masocha was always difficult to dispossess but he needs to complement his physical superiority with some bit of brain.
Many at times he tended to make strange decisions much to the chagrin of his teammates.
Barbourfields was then treated to some solo individual brilliance when Mudzingwa won possession inside the centre arc, went on a solo run and from about 40 metres let loose a bullet that gave the diving Mazingi no chance at all.
Some fans could not believe that the ball had gone in.
Highlanders then started going forward with coach Masuku opting to attack with three players, Njabulo, Graham and Mburayi.
The Chinda boys must be given some credit though as they maintained their positional discipline but seemed to be running out of ideas when going on the offensive.
With Masocha choosing to be eleven players in one, the visitors were always in danger of being caught unawares and it happened more than once but Njabulo failed to punish them.
He however never lost his composure and was eventually rewarded deep into optional time but the donkey work was done by the ageless Gift Lunga Jnr on the left side. After getting possession and overlapping Lunga sent in a curling cross that Njabulo met with a header directed on the left side of Mazingi’s goal.
“Highlanders were simply superior in the midfield. We were slow to react while they were much faster,” said a dejected Shabanie Mine coach Saul Chaminuka.
His counterpart Masuku also felt that his boys had enjoyed an upper hand in midfield.
“We wanted to just enjoy our football and I think the guys did that. Tactically I think we were better than them in midfield,” said Masuku.
Speaking after the match, an ecstatic Njabulo dedicated his goal to his mother and uncles who advised him to join Bosso.
“Ever since I left Bosso (juniors) my mother and uncles have always said they want me to play for Highlanders. This goal I scored is payback time to the Ncube family who raised me and all the Highlanders supporters. I will continue working hard to make sure that we bring glory to the club and sizabasukumisa,” said Ncube.
Teams:
Highlanders: A Sibanda, G Banda, G Lunga (jnr), I Mapuranga, L Nkomo, S Munawa, R Kutsanzira, E Mudzingwa, M Mburayi (V Nzombe 86th minute), L Matau (N Ncube 45th minute), G Ncube (A Tshuma 86th minute).
Shabanie Mine: R Mazingi, S Shoko, J Chitereki, R Mwale, S Muchabaiwa, T Mombeshora (E Bakacheza 75th minute), T Mareya (J Chizororo 72nd minute), C Masocha, M Mageja, R Nenzou (J Chisunga 54th minute), S Ndlovu.