Online Reporter
Fungai Muderere
Zimpapers Sports Hub
Chicken Inn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ( 1) 1
Highlanders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .(0) 3
SEVEN games without a win, pressure building, questions getting louder, and then Highlanders turned it on its head in one half of football.
Bosso finally showed the character and potency, which their potential had long promised when they bravely fought their way back and secured their first Castle Lager Premier Soccer League victory of the 2026 term.
And they chose fortress Barbourfields in a Bulawayo derby clash to hand their coach, Benjani Mwaruwari, the result he badly needed.
The Bulawayo giants also ended the goal drought that has brought so much anguish in the season that this storied club will be turning 100 years old.
The relief was written all over Mwaruwari’s face at the final whistle.
Yet it didn’t look like it was coming.
This is because Chicken Inn struck first inside 15 minutes when Innocent Masiwa finished from close range after leaving Andrew Mbeba behind.
His curling effort beat Aron “Arusha” Ngwenya with the Bosso defence caught all over the place.
Highlanders were flat, moving the ball without purpose, and for a while it felt like the win-less run would stretch again, this time with a derby defeat.
Then the game shifted, sharply.
Whatever was said in that dressing room landed and struck the right chords.
Highlanders came back for the second stanza, a different side.
Four minutes into the second half, Bosso’s Warriors newboy Mongameli Tshuma stabbed home the equaliser, and suddenly Barbourfields came alive.
They had every reason to come alive, for the goal drought that had haunted Bosso in this league campaign had been broken.
And once they got the breakthrough which their industry richly deserved, it was one-way traffic.
Bosso pushed, pressed and forced errors.
Isaac Ngoma put them ahead for the first time in the afternoon in the 68th minute with a composed finish after sustained pressure, and Chicken Inn never recovered.
Prince Ndlovu then made it even more comfortable six minutes later with a clean strike from range, a goal that summed up Highlanders’ second-half dominance and punished Chicken Inn for failing to deal with dead-ball situations.
Even the closing stages belonged to Bosso.
They managed the game, fed off the crowd that was firmly behind them and saw it out with control.
For Mwaruwari, it had finally clicked.
“We started very low after having been out of training for four days (due to the players’ industrial action),” said Mwaruwari, who punched the air when his charges found the net.
“In the dressing room we talked about the need to forget about things (strike over unpaid salaries), we said the goals will come. Football is a marathon and we had to keep up the momentum.
“However, it’s still a long way to go.
“There are still some areas that we are still to work on. We have to have to keep our calm. I would have loved not to concede but I’m happy because today (yesterday) we won but we need not to be carried away,” Mwaruwari said.
Chicken Inn coach Tonderai Ndiraya saw the game slip away after the break.
“We were one team in the first half, and in the second we looked different. We pushed, we played against the wind and we got a goal in the first half.
“We conceded goals through set-pieces and we were aware of that. Those set-pieces were avoidable.
“The Bosso that we played is totally different. I’m very much disappointed with the result and I give credit to Highlanders on how they played much stronger in the second half.”
After yesterday’s defeat, the Gamecocks now turn their attention to another Bulawayo derby assignment against Chiefs, while Highlanders return to Barbourfields for an even bigger test against log leaders CAPS United. For Bosso, this felt like more than just three points. It felt like a release
