HIGHLANDERS coach Madinda Ndlovu insisted on Wednesday he wanted to mould a squad that plays with flair and that winning the championship was not his major priority.
The Bulawayo giants make the trip to the Lowveld to face in-form Triangle at Gibbo Stadium on Sunday.
“It’s not very important and mandatory to only post good results but it’s mandatory for us to play attractive and meaningful football and the results will come by themselves,” he said.
“I hear a lot of people talking about Highlanders being an old and big club which must post positive results and fight for championships and so forth. But championships don’t come just because you are a big club, they come because you have good players and that means you must have well-oiled structures right from development.”
He bemoaned the club’s lack of financial muscle on the transfer market, which he said necessarily required of the club to find and promote talent from its junior structures – and that takes time.
Highlanders’ attack has been impotent this season managing to score just 18 goals in 19 matches. And Ndlovu is battling to bring former How Mine striker Tinashe Makanda on board. The forward, who was playing for South African National First Division side Stellenbosch, is awaiting his reverse international clearance from the South African Football Association (SAFA).
Also being assessed by the Bulawayo giants is Black Rhinos’ 17-year-old attacking midfielder King Utete. They have also promoted from their developmental side Denzel Khumalo, while dropping Onwell Gombami.
“Buying players is a tall order for the club, it’s a challenge getting players from outside and we have opted to take the affordable route and put our development structures in line with the objectives which we want to achieve,” Ndlovu said.
They ended a three-match losing streak by beating Herentals last Sunday, but Ndlovu knows Triangle will present a tougher challenge.
“As I said last week that I was not impressed by our performance against Herentals, I still stick by that. We didn’t express ourselves. We didn’t play the normal football that we are advocating for.,” he said.
“We managed to grind out some result, which was good for the club. Basing on the first round of the season, we did very well in our way games compared to our home games and we’re hoping that we will build on from there against a very resolute Triangle side.”
