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Ricky Zililo Senior Sports Reporter
HIGHLANDERS FC have invited unnamed goalkeepers for trials in a subtle indication the Bulawayo giants are not very happy with their goalkeeping department — the last line of their porous defence.

Bosso have conceded 13 goals in 14 outings, with first choice keeper Ariel Sibanda letting in 12 of those in 13 games that he started; a statistic that clearly worries coach Bongani Mafu.

The hunt for a new goalie will certainly push Sibanda out of his comfort zone having played all but one of his team’s league games this season.

Former Chicken Inn goal minder Njabulo “Popo” Nyoni and Takunda “TK” Mutanga are Sibanda’s deputies and both seem to have failed to dislodge him from the number one position.

Mutanga featured for Bosso in their 1-2 league defeat to championship favourites Chicken Inn in Week 10 and thereafter fell sick, skipping training for close to five weeks. He returned to training on Wednesday and Mafu has been speaking highly of him.

The Bosso gaffer described Mutanga as a “brilliant goalkeeper, full of talent”.

Mafu said the former Bantu Rovers shot stopper was highly gifted, but needed to properly manage his professional life if he harboured any hopes of pushing Sibanda aside.

“I think as much as we have a leaky defence, I need my goalkeeper to make saves should the defenders make mistakes. It’s not healthy for us that every time the backline makes a mistake we concede, and that is why I’ve called goalkeepers for trials to have healthy competition in that area,” he said.

Mafu said he would be discarding players that seem content with earning salaries while being “comfortable” benchwarmers.

He has on numerous occasions raised concerns about his leaky defence and yesterday indicated that he could recall Peter Muduhwa from his loan spell at Bulawayo Chiefs.

“If there are available defenders, we will engage them, but at the moment the one that I’ll be getting progress on is Muduhwa who we loaned out to Bulawayo Chiefs. He is one of the players I saw with sparks during our January recruitment period before deciding to loan him out so that he gets experience.

“Goalkeeping is not the only area that I need people competing for slots and a decision will be made to release players who are content with earning a salary while they are not participating. It’s only fair that there is a balance between a contract and performance,” Mafu said.

Judging from Mafu’s analysis, players such as left back Julius Daudi, goalkeeper Nyoni and Valentine Ndaba, who have seen little or no Premiership action, could be loaned out.

The club went out of its way to buy Daudi out of his contract with a Namibian club, but the player appears to have failed to justify his stay at Bosso and could be loaned out.

Striker Simba Sithole is also on his way out after the technical team decided not to renew his contract which expired on Tuesday.

The former Ajax Cape Town striker will be replaced by Bulawayo Chiefs’ Ishmael Wadi.

“Wadi belongs to Highlanders. I like him and believe Highlanders is a destination of choice for him and he will be marketable here, believe you me. If he comes here, believe you me, in no time he will be making his way to the national Under-23s,” Mafu said.

The 22-year-old Wadi is also a prime target for Chicken Inn.

Highlanders will also be signing 18-year-old Obert “Adebayor” Tafira, a former Prince Edward High School student, who has been training with the club for about two months.

Tafira played alongside Thomas Chideu in high school.