The Sunday News
Ngqwele Dube, Sports Correspondent
HIGHLANDERS will be hoping to get their title challenge back on track when they take on Triangle this afternoon at Barbourfields in a Castle Lager Premier Soccer League tie.
Bosso have struggled for consistency since the start of the season. Their cause has not been helped by the fact that two of their matches have resulted in abandonments following crowd trouble.
The Erol Akbay-coached side have struggled to maintain maximum concentration with two of their losses coming from goals scored in the last seven minutes of the match while in their abandoned game against FC Platinum, the home side levelled the scores in the dying minutes of the match. Akbay said they worked on concentration the whole week as they realised it was one of their greatest weaknesses.
Bosso lost with identical score lines of 0-1 to Shabanie and Chicken Inn with the former finding the net in the 83rd minute while the Game Cocks sealed the match in the 89th minute.
“We have been talking about it (concentration) the whole week, we have to focus every minute of the game until the final whistle. Lack of concentration has been affecting us negatively as we seem to relax. However, we emphasised to the players the game is played over 90 minutes and until the referee blows the final whistle we told them to give it their all,” said Akbay.
The Dutch coach is aware bagging three points would be crucial today if they are to stay close within the pack chasing the title. Despite protests about biased match officiating which the Dutch coach said has affected half of Bosso’s past 12 games, he admitted they have to focus on scoring more goals and limit the damage that may be done by partial refereeing.
Akbay said the onus was on his strikers to bang in more goals and reduce the risk of his side losing points due to referees’ decisions. What started off as a promising partnership between strikers, Prince Dube and Roderick Mutuma seems to be losing steam as it has not yielded the desired results with the two forwards missing a glut of chances although in other games they struggle to create the opportunities. Akbay said they would not be taking chances tomorrow and would field his strongest side against Triangle.
“They are a strong side that we cannot take for granted and I won’t be tinkering with the regular side that plays.
“Despite notching a few wins they have not lost many games either, showing they have a good defence and the only problem they might have is scoring upfront,” he said.
Highlanders have a full complement of the squad available for selection with only veteran, Ralph Matema out with an injury, while they welcome back captain, Eric Mudzingwa who had been sidelined by an undisclosed illness.
Triangle coach, Taurai Mangwiro taunted Bosso during the week when he told H-Metro that the Bulawayo side was not as strong as it used to be and beating them at Barbourfields is a big possibility. Mangwiro said his only fear though was the safety of his players after recent incidents of violence at Barbourfields and Mandava.
“They are not the Highlanders of yesteryear. Yes, they have been winning some games but they are far from being a team we can fear. We are not intimidated going into that game and we believe as things stand we have what it takes to stand our ground against any team now,” Mangwiro was quoted saying.
In other matches today, pacesetters, Ngezi Platinum takes on Chapungu at Baobab Stadium in what would seem to be an easy match for the miners while at Maglas Stadium the Zvishavane derby between Shabanie Mine and FC Platinum explodes to life.
Matches between the two are a tense affair as the battle for bragging rights in the mining town would be at stake. The sides have a met eight times and Platinum have bagged four wins while Shabanie won one with the rest of the matches having ended in stalemates.
Fixtures:
Today: Highlanders v Triangle (Barbourfields), Ngezi Platinum FC v Chapungu FC (Baobab, SS) Shabanie Mine v FC Platinum (Maglas) Caps United FC v Black Rhinos FC Postponed. All matches kick off 3pm
— @rasmthembo
