Bosso attack worries Kaindu

Highlanders coach Kelvin Kaindu has lamented his side's lack of creativity in the early stages of the Castle Premiership season, with his charges failing to deliver the goods upfront.

The Zambian watched in disbelief at the weekend as his side surrendered their place on top of the log after allowing Hwange to emerge from Barbourfields Stadium with a 1-1 draw.

Bosso are now in second place on the log with eight points, one behind new log leaders Dynamos as the new season begins to take shape.

What left Kaindu more concerned is the fact that the Bulawayo giants have had to rely on goalkeeper Munyaradzi Diya for goals as his strikers continue to fire blanks.

Diya is now among the league's top goal scorers with three goals after scoring from the spot in the draw with the coalminers.

The only Highlanders striker to get on the score sheet this season has been Knox Mutizwa.

The other Bosso goals this season have come from midfielders Milton Ncube, Charles Sibanda and Kuda Mahachi.

Out and out strikers Gabriel Nyoni and Cleopas Dube are out injured leaving Kaindu with youngsters Ozias Zibande and Mgcini Sibanda, who are yet to feature prominently this season.

Highlanders are clearly missing the services of a natural striker as the make-shift striking partnership of Sibanda and Milton Ncube lacks the qualities needed to mount a serious title challenge.

"We thought when we got an early goal we were probably going to get more goals but the goals were not coming and the problem was that the substitutes that we brought in did not have the desired impact," Kaindu said after the draw with Hwange.

"Today we created very few chances and that is not the way that we normally play. I think today we lacked creativity as we lacked a player who was going to make us play and even when Rio (Peter Moyo) came in he was not at his best."

Moyo replaced the injured Mthulisi Maphosa just before the half time break but was a pale shadow of the player who won the admiration of many fans during the last two seasons with his creative play.

The player was at some point booed by the Bosso fans as he continued to struggle in midfield but Kaindu begged the teams' followers to rally behind their players at all times.

"The fans have been such an inspiration to us and we appreciate their support and we still need them to give us more especially when a player is off-form.

"These are the same players that have brought happiness in the past and we need the fans to lift them up when they are struggling with their game," Kaindu said.

Another worrying factor for Kaindu has to be Highlanders' display of a lack of urgency when in attack as their forwards held on to the ball for too long instead of playing off each other.

The Zambian gaffer however expressed optimism that this will be rectified before tomorrow's outing against Chicken Inn.

"The race is still in its infancy and we hope to try and rectify all the shortcomings that we experienced today (Sunday)," Kaindu said.