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Tobias Mudyambanje

Sikhumbuzo Moyo, Senior Sports Reporter
FORMER Highlanders striker Tobias Mudyambanje is reportedly one of the three coaches who applied for the vacant post of assistant coach at the Bulawayo giants.

The position was left vacant following the resignation of Amini Soma-Phiri last week.

Soma-Phiri stepped down after outgoing head coach Erol Akbay wrote a letter to the chief executive officer Nhlanhla Dube that he was uncomfortable working with NetOne Easycall Cup winning coach and asked that the executive brings back demoted former goalkeepers’ coach Cosmos “Tsano” Zulu.

Highlanders under Soma-Phiri beat Dynamos 2-1 in the semifinals and accounted for neighbours Chicken Inn 1-0 through  a Ralph Matema penalty in the NetOne Easycall Cup final played at Barbourfields Stadium in 2015.

After his resignation last week, the club roped in Bosso 90 coach Melusi Sibanda on an interim basis and advertised for a substantive assistant coach whose deadline was 3PM yesterday.

While Dube could not reveal names of other candidates who threw in their CVs during the club’s weekly press conference on Thursday, Chronicle Sport has it on good authority that besides Mudyambanje, other coaches who submitted applications are highly experienced Partson Ndabambi and Dalubuhle Bhebhe.

Ndabambi was until recently the ZPC Kariba manager and is also known for his excellent knack of identifying talented players. Ndabambi has also previously coached Dongo Sawmills among other PSL teams.

“Because we had an assistant coach who has resigned you need someone to start working with the team before you get the head coach. Applications have come through yes but I think it’s only fair that when the shortlist has been done then we can start speaking from there. We are going to Harare over the weekend and business resumes on Monday and I am sure we will be able to effectively communicate in the next Press conference,” said Dube.

There were indications too yesterday that the likes of former Hwange coach Nation Dube, who together with Joey Antipas and Rahman Gumbo are favourites for the head coach post, had also thrown in his papers as well as Bulawayo Chiefs head coach Thulani Sibanda. — @skhumoyo2000.