admin
Ray Bande in MUTARE
Tenax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .0
Highlanders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0
IT was a tale of missed scoring opportunities on both ends of the pitch from the onset to the final whistle of yesterday’s Castle Lager Premiership football encounter pitting struggling Bulawayo giants Highlanders and a seemingly resurgent Tenax at Sakubva in Mutare. But even with that morale-sapping stalemate, Highlanders’ leadership somehow still see value in under fire coach Mandla Mpofu.
Perhaps, for many neutrals, this is the mark of how the mighty have fallen.
After yesterday’s match, their chairman Johnfat Sibanda said the reason they still have faith in Mpofu as their head coach is that they have hope results will soon come their way.
“This is a game of football and such results are normal. Yes, we would have loved to get maximum points but it is never easy when playing away from home. The reason we still have him (Mpofu) as our coach is that we still have faith in him. We still believe there is still time for him to start collecting maximum points. We will continue rallying behind the boys and the coach. We have no doubt that they will get things right soon,” said Sibanda.
Mpofu has been a subject of ridicule among the Highlanders faithful in recent weeks after a string of poor results, with the acrimony reaching fever pitch in the previous round of league matches when the yesteryear giants fell 2-0 against Bulawayo City. In yesterday’s encounter, both teams displayed an entertaining passing game but somehow, on numerous occasions, the visitors and the hosts lacked the cutting edge in front of goal.
Three minutes into the match, unmarked yet flat-footed Virimai Mukudo could have propelled Tenax into the lead after being set up by stocky and forcefully striker Malvern Dumbura but the former placed his effort wide of target from the edge of the box.
In the 13th minute, the visitors breached the Tenax defence after a well-positioned Bukhosi Sibanda had gotten to the end of fellow midfilder Divine Mhindirira’s cross. Sibanda fired home a hard-and-low shot that was met with equal artistry by Tenax goalkeeper Philip Makumi.
Of the two teams, it was Tenax who would probably feel the pain of a missed opportunity to grab maximum points more than their opponents as the correctional services outfit, after a flurry of failed clear-cut scoring opportunities, also had a second half penalty saved.
Online Reporter