HARARE - Highlanders coach Kelvin Kaindu admitted he was “embarrassed” by his team’s defeat to rivals Dynamos on Sunday, but insisted they would not lose focus in their quest for the title.
The Zambian gaffer questioned his players’ mentality in their approach to 1-0 loss to the Glamour Boys which ended Bosso’s unbeaten run of 11 matches.
Washington Pakamisa was on target for Calisto Pasuwa’s men in the first half as DeMbare maintained their eight year dominance over their old rivals.
The defeat saw Bosso drop to fourth place on the log table and Kaindu revealed he was disappointed to see their unbeaten run come to an end but insists they will fight to the end.
“It’s very unfortunate we lost otherwise we had wanted to march on undefeated. It’s part of the game we need to go back to the drawing board and re-group,” Kaindu told the Daily News yesterday.
“These are type of matches are supposed to be highly explosive. The way we approached the match, I think we lacked character. It’s the character we need to work on. It’s quite an embarrassing defeat.”
The Bulawayo giants last registered a win against DeMbare in 2006, the year they last laid their hands on the Premiership trophy.
Since then, Bosso is yet to collect maximum points against DeMbare in their last 15 league matches. The best that Highlanders has done is drawing seven times and losing as many times.
Kaindu has not beaten Dynamos since he joined Bosso three years ago and the soft spoken coach played down any psychological effect on his team’s poor run against the Harare giants over the years.
“I don’t think it’s psychological that we cannot beat Dynamos. It’s a game of football and these things happen. It will come a time where we will beat them.
“We conceded a soft goal. It’s part of the game. It’s not the end of the world. We have to re-group and concentrate on our following matches.”
Bosso are yet to taste league success since 2006 when former midfielder Methembe Ndlovu returned from the United States to wrestle the championship from CAPS United who had won two consecutive crowns under Charles Mhlauri.
In other weekend’s matches, Hwange remained at the top of the log despite a 0-1 defeat in the hands of Chicken Inn. The coalminers are on 22 points and lead only on goal difference from How Mine and Dynamos who are second and third respectively with the same number of points.
How Mine and FC Platinum played a goalless draw while Saul Chaminuka’s ZPC Kariba needed a late, late Pride Tafirenyika to secure a one-all draw against Shabanie Mine.
ZPC remains the only team yet to taste a defeat this season and they are on 20 points, two behind log leaders Hwange.