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Ricky Zililo Senior Sports Reporter
UNBEATEN Highlanders FC and newcomers ZPC Kariba at the weekend convincingly beat their opponents confirming that they are serious title contenders this season.
Highlanders massacred Caps United 4-0 at Barbourfields Stadium on Sunday while ZPC Kariba were 5-1 winners against Triangle at Gibbo Stadium in the Eastern Lowveld.
Caps United coach Taurai Mangwiro said he was confident they would recover from the heavy defeat.
“We mustn’t despair because even great teams in the world like Bayern Munich and Chelsea concede such defeats. We will pick ourselves up and work on our shortcomings ahead of the next game.”
Bosso and ZPC Kariba are tied on 12 points from six outings with Highlanders sitting at the top of the log due to a superior goal difference.
The results recorded by both teams set a perfect foundation for a potentially explosive Week Seven clash when they meet in Harare both fighting for dominance as well as maintaining their unbeaten runs.
Highlanders who were without coach Kelvin Kaindu who was in the UK for his high level coaching course graduation, put up a spirited show at Emagumeni, and if they can maintain that kind of momentum, Bosso will be hard to beat. It was one of the best performance by the club this year though there is still room for improvement.
All Highlanders goals were great with Rahman Kutsanzira opening the avalanche with a dipping header seven minutes into the match as he rose above the visitors’ defence to get to the end of an Ozias Zibande flick.
Zibande extended Highlanders’ lead 10 minutes before the break heading home a perfect Kudakwashe Mahachi cross from the left before the former added his name onto the score card with a magnificent shot from the edge the box that beat Tafadzwa Dube in the near post.
Substitute Cleopas Dube scored within a minute after replacing Zibande with his second touch of the ball in the 82nd minute.
The victory was overally as a result of team work but the midfield was outstanding with Eric Mudzingwa, who has done well since assuming the anchoring role, providing good cover to his defence and kept the midfield in shape. Mudzingwa should however improve on his passing.
Welcome “Waroowa” Ndiweni covered almost every blade in the field, doing the dirty work in front of Mudzingwa and making it difficult for Caps United to start moves through their anchorman Tendai Samanja while Mahachi and Kutsanzira were a menace on either side of the wings.
Sibanda also did well to add numbers into his team’s midfield making it difficult for Caps United’s defenders to keep track of him and that gave Zibande room to manoeuvre.
Despite playing well, Mudzingwa who has found new breeze said they still have to keep on improving.
“It was a good result against Caps United and I am happy that I am playing regularly after making a few appearances through injury last season. Everyone is working hard and we are starting to understand each other. It is too early to talk of championship because there are 24 games left and what we need to do is try to keep this momentum and take each game as it comes. Being on top of the log puts pressure on us because everyone is fighting to dislodge us.
“With supporters behind us and everyone doing his best, there is no reason to fail this season,” said Mudzingwa.
ZPC Kariba coached by Saul Chaminuka are breathing fire and having already claimed the scalp of defending champions Dynamos and they still have their foot on the pedal.
Chaminuka said their 5-1 win in Triangle was a confirmation of their hard work.
“We are not thinking about the championship yet but what we want to do is improve with every passing game. The guys did a very good job against Triangle and this win is a clear reflection of the hard work we do at training,” he said.
ZPC Kariba came from a goal down to beat Triangle with goals from Limited Chikafa, Pride Tafirenyika and Raphael Manuvire who got a hatrick.
While Bosso and ZPC were busy celebrating their big wins, defending champions Dynamos suffered a shock 0-1 defeat at the hands of Buffaloes. DeMbare are on position eight with just nine points from six outings.
The difference between Dynamos and the log leaders is just three points but these might prove costly unless the Harare giants up their game.
Hwange’s unbeaten run came to a halt when they lost 0-2 to How Mine at Luveve Stadium on Saturday with the coalminers’ coach Nation Dube partly blaming fatigue for their loss.
Chipangano played on Thursday and on Friday they hit the road to Bulawayo without resting to face a How Mine outfit that had Thursday and Friday to recover from their Wednesday 2-1 win over Chiredzi.
Hwange are on position three tied on 11 points with Luke Masomere’s Buffaloes who are fourth on the table while How Mine are fifth on 10 points. Also on 10 points are Shabanie Mine who held Chapungu to a 1-1 draw in Gweru.
FC Platinum condemned Harare City to the bottom of the table with a 2-1 win at Mandava Stadium, the sixth loss by the Sunshine City Boys who are yet to pick a point.
Pressure is mounting on Bigboy Mawiwi who led Harare City to a third place finish last season.
Online Reporter