Bosso takes on Wankie in a friendly

Castle Lager Premier Soccer League log leaders Highlanders will play a friendly match against Hwange at the Colliery Stadium on Sunday.

There are no Premiership matches this weekend because the Warriors will be playing against Burundi in the Afcon qualifiers at the National Sports Stadium this Sunday. The scheduled Bosso/Chipangano friendly will present both coaches Kelvin Kaindu and Tennant Chilumba with an opportunity to fine-tune their sides ahead of their next league matches.

Both teams will be on the road, Bosso travelling to the capital to take on Motor Action while Chipangano will visit the City of Kings for a clash with Chicken Inn at Luveve Stadium on 23 June.

With Highlanders having beaten their hosts in a league match a few weeks ago, the match is likely to attract a full house despite it being a friendly.

Bosso dropped their first set of two points at home against Chicken Inn on Sunday, overcame Chipangano 1-0 in a lively match that was however marred by some dubious decisions from Bulawayo referee, Mlindeli Ndebele whose performance started off badly and deteriorated steadily until the final whistle.

Ndebele capped a bad day's show by flashing a red card at Aaron Katebe for a foul that was committed by Daniel Kamunhenga in an off-the-ball incident.

"It's true that we are playing host to Highlanders this weekend on Sunday," confirmed Hwange secretary and spokesman Burzil Dube.

He however said they were yet to get permission from the Premier Soccer League as per standing regulations.

Both teams will use the friendly to fine-tune their sides in areas where they did not perform well in their last league matches that saw both sides dropping valuable points at home.

While Highlanders picked up a point, Chipangano lost 4-1 to a fired-up Shabanie Mine, their biggest defeat since the 4-0 mauling by a fired-up Leonard Tsipa and Brian Badza led Caps United on 27 June 2004.

Chipangano will be without skipper Ronald Chinyengetere and Francisco Zekumbawira who are with the national team in Harare while Bosso will probably keep the same team, especially in defence, that faced Chicken Inn last Sunday.

In the absence of Eric Mudzingwa, who was serving a one-match suspension after accumulating three yellow cards, coach Kaindu brought in gangly Dumisani Ndlovu to partner Innocent Mapuranga in the heart of defence.

Many armchair analysts wonder why it is taking long for Mapuranga to earn his first national team cap after his fine run with the Bulawayo giants over the last three seasons.

With Chicken Inn coach Adam Ndlovu having identified  Mthulisi Maphosa as the key man at Bosso, Kaindu might redeploy Mudzingwa back to the crucial midfield area to mop out and do the dirty work for Maphosa.

Maphosa has been excelling in that area because there has not been any special assignment by the opposition to take care of him unlike what Ndlovu did, a situation made even easier for him with the below average show by Milton Ncube while the introduction of Simon Munawa made the situation even more catastrophic for Highlanders.

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