The club technical staff headed by the Dutch international Hendrikus Pieter de Jongh had to adjust the training programme for the week ahead of a league match against TelOne – to allow players to recover after a congested schedule that saw the team playing four matches in twelve days.
Initially scheduled to regroup on Monday for a light training in preparation for the Sunday match against the midlands-based side, the training was called off to allow players to rest, before they get back to business on Tuesday afternoon.
Highlanders players were visibly fatigued when they played to a 1-1 away draw against firm relegation candidates Herentals at National Sports stadium on Sunday.
Bosso defied odds in a match where besides fatigue and deliberate rough play by their opponents, the players had some suspicious calls by the referee of the day Norman Matemera and his assistants to endure.
In his post-match analysis, de Jongh who was not pleased by both, the result and the performance of his side attributed ‘poor performance’ to fatigue.
“I have never seen anything like this, you cannot play five or six games in two weeks, it is not right and the players need time to rest and train which is impossible with the schedule.
“Today the performance was bad from the whole team, it is fatigue and we did not play well, (but) I hope we can recover in the upcoming fixtures,” he said.
Prior to the Herentals match, Highlanders had played and won three matches in seven days – league matches over Bulawayo Chiefs and Chicken, and a Chibuku Super Cup first round match over rivals Dynamos.
Bosso who will be hoping to make a quick response to the Sunday result that saw them drop two points on the road welcome midfielder Adrian Silla who missed the trip to Harare due to a one match suspension, while Devine Mhindirira who picked an ankle injury during the team’s 2-0 victory over Chicken Inn is still a doubt.