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Tadious Manyepo, Zimpapers Sports Hub
CASTLE Lager Premier Soccer League Golden Boot favourite Lynoth Chikuhwa has attributed his drastic transformation to the playing system introduced at Highlanders this season by coach Kelvin Kaindu.
The 31-year-old is leading the top scorer’s race in the league after scoring 16 goals in 33 games.
With the curtain to the current term coming down this weekend, Chikuhwa will win his first Golden Boot accolade unless some gigantic miracles greet the league in the very last match-day.
The Bosso forward has netted three goals more than his closest challenger Khama Billiat of Yadah with CAPS United striker William Manondo a goal further behind. Neither Billiat nor Manondo has managed to score a hattrick in 33 games and if they continue on that trend, then Chikuhwa might as well win the accolade even if he fails to score in Bosso’s last match against Yadah at Barbourfields tomorrow.
Chikuhwa has refused to prematurely celebrate the Golden Boot prize, but has acknowledged the impact of Kaindu’s methods on his career.
The lanky striker was almost chopped off the Highlanders roster at the beginning of the season after enduring a dry 2023. The wave, which was prompted by the glaring goal-drought on the part of Bosso’s strike-force last year, swept Chikuhwa’s forward partners including Ray Lunga, Stanley Ngala and Washington Navaya. But he somehow survived even after giving the Bulawayo giants a poor return of just three goals throughout the entire 2023 season.
Kaindu said early in the season that he opted to keep Chikuhwa because of his good positional instincts.
“I decided to retain Chikuhwa because he is a player that I assessed and realised he can punch well above what he did last year,” said Kaindu in May.
“He is giving us a lot in terms of goals and creating opportunities for goals as well. I am happy with his contribution so far this season.
“He is one hardworking player who you can bank on to bring the energy upfront which can take us to the league title. It’s still early days, but certainly we will keep on fighting for the title.”
And Chikuhwa has attributed his dream season in which he has also become a strong favourite to win the Soccer Star of the Year accolade to Kaindu’s touch.
“To tell the truth, I was very low on confidence at the start of the season given my struggles last year.
“I wasn’t sure whether I was doing the right thing or not. But coach Kaindu (Kelvin) worked very well on my mentality and everything started to fall together again,” said Chikuhwa.
“He would always take me by the side and spend a lot of time telling me what I ought to do to rediscover myself.
“I would like to thank him because he is also the one who advised me to start doing extras. I have been doing extra work on finishing and you know, that helped me a lot this season.
“Individually, I am happy, but I know anything can happen on the final weekend of the season so I cannot crown myself yet. But even if I fail to win the prize, I am still happy because this is really my finest season ever since I started playing football.
“Of course, it could have been fulfilling had the team won the championship but the progress is obviously tremendous and all that thanks to the coach (Kaindu)”.
Chikuhwa also looked more functional with Brighton Ncube and Reason Sibanda partnering him upfront.
The chemistry looked even sharper with midfield work from Melikhaya Ncube, Godfrey Makaruse and McKinnon Mushore all pulling the strings in the midfield.
Online Reporter