BY FORTUNE MBELE/ KEVIN MAPASURE
Chicken Inn . . . . . . (1) 1
Bulawayo City . . . . (0) 0
Tenax . . . . . . . . . . . . (0) 1
Yadah . . . . . . . . . . . . (2) 3
CHICKEN INN FC returned to the top of the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League log after grinding out a hard-fought win against a spirited Bulawayo City outfit at Luveve Stadium yesterday.
Malvin Hwata scored what turned out to be the winner for the GameCocks after 34 minutes.
He outpaced Cedric Chinomona on the break to come face to face with City goalkeeper Reward Muza.
- Chamisa under fire over US$120K donation
- Mavhunga puts DeMbare into Chibuku quarterfinals
- Pension funds bet on Cabora Bassa oilfields
- Councils defy govt fire tender directive
Keep Reading
Hwata showed great intelligence to lobby the ball past the goalkeeper.
City would feel they deserved a point at least, but the Gamecocks who never showed up in the second half were lucky to hold on to their first half lead.
Late chances that fell on the path of substitutes Elshamar Farasi, Rodi Sibanda and Lewis Ncube that were not converted proved to be City’s biggest undoing.
Bulawayo City coach Philani Ncube felt they had paid dearly for failing to convert their chances.
“This is a game where we created chances, especially in the second and we were supposed to bury them. Everything was positive but we failed to convert but that is the name of the game,” said Ncube.
Chicken Inn coach Joey Antipas said: “”The main thing was to collect three points after our mauling at Whawha. The main thing today was to collect three points. We had a good first half and they also had a good second half.”
Meanwhile, Yadah enhanced their chances of surviving relegation after putting on an impressive show in a convincing win against Tenax at Sakubva yesterday.
The Miracle Boys got off to the perfect start when Cryrodge Denhere opened the scoring with a curling effort before veteran striker Ralph Matema doubled his team’s lead with a goal on the stroke of halftime.
Vincent Sango came off the bench to score Yadah’s third goal in the 75th minute while Tenax got their consolation goal from Simon Muneme, who headed home a Takunda Mapara corner kick.
Yadah coach Genesis Mangombe was full of praises for his charges.
“We came here with a clear game plan, which we stuck to and executed to the letter. To counter their tactics we by-passed our midfield to play balls behind them and did not knock it around as we normally do. This caused them problems as we managed to create chances that gave us the goals. I am happy that we showed good organisation throughout to take home the three points after losing our previous game,” said Mangombe.
Tenax coach Shadreck Mugurasave conceded that Yadah were the better team.
“It was a bad day in office and we did not come to the party. Our opponents showed more desire and deservedly won the match. Maybe the break over the Easter holidays disturbed our rhythm, but we will continue working hard on our shortcomings to improve our game,” said Mugurasave.
