OnSport Reporter
FOLLOWING a string of disappointing performances, the Highlanders family was informed on Monday night that head coach Kelvin Kaindu had been fired and has been temporarily replaced by his assistant Try Ncube.
He will be assisted by Agent Sawu, who was the club’s second assistant coach.
The goalless draw against Chicken Inn at Barbourfields Stadium on Sunday was Kaindu’s final straw.
Ncube’s first task is at BF on Sunday, against the trailblazing league debutants, MWOS, who suffered their first defeat at the hands of Ngezi Platinum Stars at the weekend.
In a statement that went viral on social media pages on Monday night, Highlanders said: “Highlanders Football Club would like to inform its stakeholders of the following changes in its technical team with immediate effect: the club has parted ways with head coach Kelvin Kaindu. First assistant coach Try Ncube will, in the interim, head the technical team assisted by second assistant coach Agent Sawu. The rest of the technical team members will maintain their roles. The above changes have been necessitated by the recent streak of unsatisfactory results.”
In their first game of the season, Highlanders travelled to Baobab Stadium, where they fell 1-0 to MWOS, who put a lid to the first half of the season with nine victories, seven draws and one defeat.
The club leadership felt Kaindu, who leaves the club on position nine with 23 points from 17 games, could not go beyond the first half of the season and have tasked Ncube to stir the ship forward as the search for the Zambian gaffer’s substantive replacement commences.
He got the boot after winning five games, drawing eight times and losing four times, an insignificant difference from last season, when in the same period, the club was on the sixth spot on the table with 26 points, with six wins, eight draws and three defeats.
In 2023, Highlanders then coach, Brazilian-born-Portuguese national Baltemar Brito harvested 37 points at the end of the first half of the season, to lead the pack only finish on position five with 55 points while Kaindu ended last season on position six with 48 points.
The Johnfat Sibanda-led executive committee did not renew Brito’s contract at the end of 2023, bringing Kaindu on board before Sibanda was ousted by incumbent chairman Kenneth Mhlophe before the 2024 season started.
Meanwhile Rodwell Dhlakama has bounced back as head coach at Green Fuel, with Tawurayi Mangwiro elevated to technical director after the side was trounced 5-1 by Triangle at Gibbo Stadium at the weekend.
Green Fuel face a revamped Caps United at Rufaro on Sunday.
The grapevine also has it that its not looking good for coach Tonderai Ndiraya at Scottland after the defeat to TelOne on Saturday and the draw to Green Fuel in their previous match.
Scottland are off to improved Triangle at Gibbo on Sunday, a game that could decide Ndiraya’s fate.
