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Highlanders dropped two precious points and saw their lead at the top reduced to three points as Shabanie Mine beat Gunners 2-0 to keep the pressure on the league leaders.
“What we needed was to stop Maphosa from his usual dangerous forward passes while also closing in on play maker Moyo and I think we did that quite well,” said Ncube.
He said Bosso gaffer Kelvin Kaindu realised their game plan and tried to change the formation but it just was not their day and with a bit of luck, they could have hit them with a sucker punch.
With their game plan, Maphosa was then forced to rely more on diagonal passes which were not exactly as telling and dangerous as when he makes a forward pass which normally take about three moves before venturing in the final third for the kill.
The former Coach of the Year said they never had any pressure ahead of the Barbourfields clash and knew that Highlanders were the ones who could have had pressure.
“We never had any pressure at all because the writing was on the wall that we would lose so we went out there knowing that no one gave us any chance against Highlanders. I must commend Kaindu though as his boys are really playing good football. It will take a lot for that team to lose, Kaindu has done a tremendous job,” said Ncube.
However, while Ncube could be full of praises for Highlanders, the supporters could be a worried lot because of their players’ sudden failure to bury chances, with Bhekimpilo Ncube being the chief culprit during Sunday’s match.
On any other day and against a different team, such misses usually cost a team three points and coach Kaindu needs to summon all his technical skills to try and revisit their early season form of scoring freely, especially with the Battle of Zimbabwe part one finally happening this Sunday.
The boys need to show that zeal that has seen them making history by being the only side in the league yet to lose but such misses will slowly but surely give their opponents the confidence that Bosso are not invincible after all. Half chances should be buried while forgiveness can only be extended to rookies like Ozias Zibande not veteran players like Ncube boys, Bhekimpilo, Graham and Milton. Without any doubt, Bosso’s play is fluid with build-ups to the goal visible but the glaring misses seem to be their undoing.
As Bosso dropped their 10th point of the season, second placed Shabanie Mine registered their eighth win with an impressive 2-0 win over Gunners and coach Luke Masomere should really be commended for the way he has transformed a modest team into a championship chasing side with average players in his camp.
It’s Shabanie Mine and Buffaloes that are really the surprise packages so far this year and people should probably have heard the Mutare-based side loud and clear when they held Bosso to a 1-1 during Week Three of the season. On Sunday, Saul Chaminuka’s boys added to the woes of struggling Hardbody, beating them 2-0 to move to third on the log standings with 28 points.
Last week, he had no answer to the Zambian magic and on Sunday, he faced another Zambian and again he came out clueless as Caps United lost 2-1 to an under fire Hwange who collected their first set of points on the road for the first time this season.
Sean Connor, the Makepekepe coach, should be wondering what has suddenly hit his side, especially after an impressive six match unbeaten run which was stopped by Highlanders.
Chipangano, with the win moved to eighth on the standings with 20 points while Caps are now a point behind Hwange and ninth on the standings.
Results at a glance
Saturday: Gunners 0, Shabanie Mine 2; Harare City 1, Chicken Inn 1; Motor Action 0, Monomotapa 1; Blue Rangers 2, Black Mambas 2
Sunday: Quelaton 1, Highlanders 1; Caps United 1, Hwange 2; Hardbody 0, Buffaloes 2
Online Reporter