Londile Moyo
Fungai Muderere at Barbourfields Stadium
Chicken Inn 1-3 Highlanders
SEVEN games without a win, pressure building, questions getting louder, and then Highlanders turned it on its head in one half of football.
Bosso came from behind to beat Chicken Inn 3-1 at Barbourfields, and in the process handed coach Benjani Mwaruwari the result he badly needed.
The relief was written all over him at the final whistle.
It didn’t look like it was coming.
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 winless run would stretch again, this time with a derby defeat.
Then the game shifted, sharply.
Whatever was said in that dressing room landed. Highlanders came back a different side.
Four minutes into the second half, Mongameli Tshuma stabbed home the equaliser and suddenly Barbourfields came alive. From there, it was one-way traffic.
Bosso pushed, pressed and forced errors.
Isaac Ngoma put them ahead in the 68th minute with a composed finish after sustained pressure, and Chicken Inn never recovered.
Prince Ndlovu settled it 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.
The closing stages belonged to Bosso. They managed the game, fed off the crowd, and saw it out with control.
For Mwaruwari, it finally clicked.
“We started very low after having been out of training for four days,” 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 on 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.”
Chicken Inn coach Tonderayi 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 on the result and I give credit to Highlanders on how they played much stronger in the second half.”
Chicken Inn now turn to another Bulawayo derby against Chiefs, while Highlanders return to Barbourfields for a bigger test against CAPS United.
For Bosso, this felt like more than just three points. It felt like a release.
Online Reporter