Tinashe Makanda came off the bench to score a winning goal as Highlanders beat Black Rhinos 1-0 in an early Castle Larger Premier Soccer League kick-off match played at Barbourfields stadium on Saturday.
Makanda who has proved to be very effective coming from the bench scored his second goal of the season when he pounced on a loose ball inside the visitors’ box and beat a helpless Rhinos goalkeeper 73 minutes into the game.
He had been introduced as a 71st minute substitute for Brian Banda, and it took him only two minutes on the pitch to find the winner for Bosso, who had been kept at bay by the stubborn army side for the better part of the match.
The win moves Bosso to position nine with 23 points, nine points behind defending champions and log leaders FC Platinum who are on 32 points.
Highlanders technical manager Mandla Mpofu was pleased with both, the result and the way how his team played.
“Six points in four day. Obvious as a coach you will be happy. A better performance today I think, but not great in the first half. That’s my thought,” said Mpofu.
“We played a team that maybe, they wanted to fall back every time we tried to attack especially in the first half. No great scoring opportunities in the first half, but better ball management unlike when we played (against) Chapungu,” he added.
“We came up maybe a better team in the second half where we badly needed a goal. Again a tactical change where we brought in Makanda for Brian Banda, we brought back Prince (Dube) in the middle of the park where I think he was just outstanding, and scoring opportunities started to come out, we got one (goal), but I think we could have scored one or two there after,” said Mpofu.
This was the second win for the Bulawayo football giants in four days after they beat Chapungu by a similar scoreline on Wednesday.
The result also sees Highlanders stretching their unbeaten run to six matches, having last lost a league match on 8 June, exactly 10 weeks ago when they were condemned to a power sapping 0-1 away defeat by Yadah FC.
From there Bosso have registered three wins and the same number of draws.