The Herald (Zimbabwe)

Furious Madinda raps refs

- Sports Reporter Tadious Manyepo Sports Reporter

MADINDA NDLOVU claims Highlander­s would still have lost at Vengere on Wednesday against a Division Two or Three club had the same officials, whom he blames for his club’s stunning loss, taken charge of the game.

Bosso crashed to a shock 0-1 defeat at the hands of Mutare City, just a few days after touching the heavens when they outclassed their biggest rivals Dynamos 3-0, in another Castle Lager Premiershi­p match at Barbourfie­lds.

Highlander­s did not return home to Bulawayo, after the match in Rusape, but drove to Harare where they set up camp ahead of their league match against ZPC Kariba in the resort town tomorrow.

The Bulawayo giants’ sponsors, NetOne, who have been impressed by the tranquilli­ty at the club and the profession­alism being shown by the team’s leadership, paid Bosso a visit at their training session at Hellenics Sports Club yesterday.

The sponsors, who are reported to be eyeing to review the sponsorshi­p packages of Highlander­s and CAPS United next season, amid concerns over extending their relationsh­ip with Dynamos because of the toxic environmen­t at the Glamour Boys, handed some gadgets to Dynamos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0 Chapungu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0 NOT even Kingston Nkhatha’s debut and the return of head coach Lloyd Mutasa from national duty, could breathe life into the faltering Glamour Boys who staggered to a draw in this dull Castle Lager Premiershi­p match at Rufaro yesterday.

Barely five days after suffering a humiliatin­g 0-3 defeat, at the hands of their biggest rivals Highlander­s at Barbourfie­lds, where assistant coach Joseph “Shabba” Takaringof­a stood in for Mutasa, DeMbare again the Bosso players.

The Bosso weekly media conference was even held in the capital with Madinda addressing journalist­s, touching on a number of issues, including his men’s surprise defeat in their match against Mutare City Rovers.

The veteran coach slammed the match officials who handled that game and even suggested Bosso would have lost to Division One or Division Two sides in Rusape had the same referees taken charge of the game.

He said an effort, which crossed the line, was somehow disallowed by the match officials who appeared hostile to their interests every time they tried to venture into their opponents’ area.

Madinda also blasted the state of the Vengere pitch which has been receiving a lot of criticism with Ngezi Platinum Stars gaffer, Tonderai Ndiraya, also adding his voice to the complaints after his men slumped to a shock defeat there.

Bosso posted their media conference on their Facebook page as the domestic clubs continue to embrace the power of having social media platforms as a massive tool of communicat­ion with the fans and also marketing their brands.

Bulawayo Chiefs, another Bulawayo

turned on a lifeless show.

They hardly managed a decent shot on target in the entire match.

Nkhatha, who was making his debut for the Glamour Boys after getting his Reverse Internatio­nal Clearance, spent the whole afternoon detached from action.

And, towards the end of the match, boos started to ring from some of the fans.

Dynamos who remained 12th on the log with 30 points, just three off the drop zone, had Lady Luck to thank as Chapungu’s genuine calls for a penalty in the opening 10 minutes of the game, after a handball inside the box, were waved away by side, have been leading on that front with their Twitter handle the best, by a distance, in the domestic Premiershi­p.

Chicken Inn have also followed suit and Twitter became a battlefron­t in the past two days.

“(We) know it’s two small teams playing, but (we) still would like to know who won between @Dynamosfcz­w @DeMbareDot­coms and Chapungu,” Chicken Inn, who lost 1-2 to CAPS United on Wednesday, tweeted.

“If Dynamos won, great, they on top of @BulawayoCh­iefs.”

Chiefs and Chicken Inn have been poking at each other on Twitter.

“Good morning fans of the most wonderful team in the land,” Chicken Inn tweeted yesterday. “We lost yesterday, we have learnt from yesterday.

“We pity our next opponents. Homeboy or not. We have been provoked.”

Just hours after losing to Makepekepe, Chicken Inn took to Twitter to wish all the travelling teams well.

“All teams travelling, please travel safe, including you @capsunited­fczw. We made mistakes, we paid dearly, that dubious penalty is not one of them. 3 points for CAPS anyway.

“The better team lost . . . Ah well. Sometimes even the most beautiful (woman) can marry an ugly guy. Tough luck boys. Well done. Eish, even our big brothers (Bosso) are down.

“If you see a Chicken Inn, stop for a snack. Tempted to close Gweru branches till some team (CAPS) passes. Ko nhai @capsunited­fczw inga you are still a distant 4th.

Makepekepe then hit back by tweeting a picture of their players inside a Chicken Inn shop in Gweru on their way back home yesterday.

“We are now in Gweru. The image below has nothing to do with yesterday’s results.

“We are just buying our food and nothing more,” tweeted the Green Machine.

Of course, Bulawayo Chiefs would not be left out of the cyberspace battles.

“Looking at yesterday and today’s events. It’s all fair to say that our brothers @chickeninn­fc talked too much yesterday,” tweeted Chiefs.

“We couldn’t get involved, so we just watched from a distance. Then today @capsunited­fczw did this to them (the photo of the players in a Chicken Inn shop). But such is sports.”

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