Highlanders technical manager Madinda Ndlovu will be hoping to subvert threats posed by the team’s struggling week eleven Castle Larger Premier Soccer League (PSL) opponents Yadah FC as the two sides face-off at Rufaro Stadium on Saturday.
Addressing journalists during the club’s weekly press conference, Ndlovu said Yadah have proven to be a stumbling block in the past, but he wont read much into the past.
Last season Yadah frustrated Highlanders to a 0-0 stalemate at National Sports Stadium, with their ball boys disappearing with soccer balls for the better part of the last 15 minutes of the game, before Bosso beat the Harare-based side 2-1 at Barbourfields stadium in the reverse fixture.
Newman Sianchali and Denzel Khumalo scored for Highlanders while Yadah got their goal through former Bosso and Orlando Pirates striker Ralph Matema.
“Yadah have always been a stumbling block to us. We have beaten them in the past, but we don’t live up to that. It’s a different ball game all together. Different crop of players at Yadah, we will give them the due respect, we are aware that we are playing away from home and we will take note of that, but the engine is already running,” he said.
The gaffer further added that the team will have to take advantage of the momentum and get a positive result away from home.
Bosso who had a slow start to the season – going for eight league matches without a win, finally found their mojo registering two consecutive wins after beating TelOne and ZPC Kariba 1-0 and 2-0 respectively.
Ray Lunga who has been on song for the past weeks scored the only goal for Highlanders against TelOne while Ariel Sibanda and Tinashe Makanda were on target in the team’s victory against Bosso’s bogey side ZPC Kariba.
“You don’t switch off a diesel engine at a Lay-by, you leave it idle. So we are going to go with the momentum, we are going to go out there and look for that important win, with of course the respect that Yadah deserves. That’s as far as we can go,” said Ndlovu.
Yadah who are second from Bottom are smarting from a 3-0 mauling at the hands of Manica Diamonds, and Bosso can further dampen their already troubled souls by condemning them to their seventh defeat of the season.
Should Highlanders collect maximum points and keep a clean sheet against Yadah, the team would have won three consecutive league matches, and kept four successive clean sheets.
The reining goalkeeper of the year Ariel Sibanda has already kept six clean sheets, saved two penalties and scored two goals in the opening ten matches, and the team will be banking on him to avoid conceding against Yadah on Saturday.