adminTWO goals in the second half were enough to propel Highlanders back into the top three and hand Zimbabwe Saints their first home loss of the season in a drab Castle Premiership encounter at Barbourfields Stadium yesterday.
Bosso surged ahead through a Dumisani “Fazo” Ndlovu own goal and a cool finish by Louis Matawu who had one of his best games since his move to Highlanders.
But there was very little to warm the 4 000 crowd at Barbourfields in the first half with both teams failing to make the headway on a chilly afternoon.
Perhaps the major highlight of the day was that Saints paraded seven new players. Chikwata lost almost the entire team during the transfer window as players moved away after the club struggled to meet its financial obligations.
On the field, Highlanders were the better side, but they created very few chances. Their first and possibly best chance of the tie came in the 18th minute when right-back Lawson Nkomo forced Saints goalkeeper, Munyaradzi Diya to make a save.
Nkomo took a free kick from 30 metres and had aimed for the roof of the nets only to see Diya flying high to tip it over the crossbar.
Earlier Nkomo was lucky to escape a red card after a rough tackle on Fortune Nyambosi in the eighth minute.
On another day, Nkomo could have been given his marching orders, but referee Thomas Masaa merely flashed a yellow card.
After this effort the game fizzled into a bit of a bore with neither team taking the initiative to score. The game went to half time deadlocked at nil-all.
The second half ended much like it started with both teams content to knock the ball around. However, Saints seemed marginally better and started stringing together more passes.
However, in the 51st minute returnee, Graham Ncube seemed a shade off side when he drifted into the penalty area to meet a Nkomo cross.
He failed to beat Diya with the initial effort but was at hand to pick the rebound, which he slammed into the goalkeeper again. For a while, it didn’t look like the ball would cross the line until Ndlovu helped it across the line, into his own goal.
Bosso sealed victory in the 74th minute when Matawu finished a clever run with lob after controlling with his chest.
Saints tried to claw back into the game after this goal, but failed to get enough of the passing game to create chances. The results left Saints in a precarious position on the log standings with only 18 points from 18 games.
Online Reporter