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Innocent Kurira, [email protected]

HIGHLANDERS coach, Kelvin Kaindu has come to the defence of his players’ on-field conduct, after defenders Peter Muduhwa and Andrew Mbeba in particular have been criticised for overly aggressive behaviour on the pitch.

Bosso players, with the aforementioned duo at the forefront, were criticised for questioning almost every decision made by match officials last season and that trend seems to have overlapped into this season as well.

Following some skirmishes in last Sunday’s derby against Bulawayo Chiefs, Kaindu was quizzed on his players’ behaviour.

“The game, l think, is divided into three parts. There is where the players actually are on the ground and are seeing what is happening. There is what we see from the technical bench and there is what the supporters see from the stands. But there was a time you could see our opponents were comfortable with a draw. Every time there was contact they would go down and we never saw any player that was cautioned ,or anytime the player would call for a stretcher because of head injuries. That is why the players felt these guys are just delaying the game,” said Kaindu.

In the Chiefs game, there was a moment when Muduhwa and Mbeba were the central figures in an altercation between both sets of players.

“What we should understand is we have different characters and if we talk of those two players, l have seen Peter trying to motivate the fans to support the team, we have not identified that as a positive and we only look at the negative. 

“This was a difficult game; it was a local derby and you expect to have these kinds of moments. These guys play together, maybe they drink together, socialise together. We played the last game against Dynamos and l think they were disciplined,” Kaindu explained.

“It’s unfortunate that maybe today they could have reacted in one way or another but you need such kind of players. When you are playing in the Confederation (Caf) you will realise you need such kind of players. I’m not condoning bad behaviour but people have different characteristics. You can’t come in one month and change the character of somebody. We did not have this question when we played against Dynamos. They behaved well. If it is an issue of their reputation then we can talk about it but for now l think they were just expressing themselves,” Kaindu added.

Highlanders will next face Simba Bhora at Barbourfields Stadium, in what promises to be an exciting encounter. – @innocentskizoe.