BY TERRY MADYAUTA
WHAWHA…………..(1)3
CHICKEN INN……..(0)
GWERU-BASED side WhaWha put in arguably their best performance of the season when they outmanoeuvred title hopefuls Chicken Inn 3-0 at Ascot stadium yesterday.
Goals from Tineyi Chitora, Raymond Horonga and Jayden Barake were all the prison wardens needed to defeat the Gamecock and record their second set of maximum points and move to 17th position.
For Chicken Inn, the loss saw them drop to second position, with Dynamos now sitting on pole position despite a 0-0 draw with Ngezi Platinum yesterday at Baobab stadium.
The defeat was so painful that Chicken Inn coach Joey Antipas was left fuming at his players, for a bad attitude and poor defending throughout the match.
In truth, Chicken Inn’s backline lacked pace, with the aging Moses Jackson and Itai Mabunu struggling to contain the speed of the youthful pair of Barake and winger Michael Sibanda.
As a result the Gamecocks have now conceded six goals in the two matches, a feat that the veteran gaffer thinks could dent their title hopes.
“Very well played WhaWha, they definitely took us to the cleaners. I would say that everything did not go well for us, everything went wrong today,” fumed Antipas.
“I am disappointed with this result. I thought we could do better, but our attitude was the main cause of our downfall. It’s a marathon and we need to fix the worrying areas.”
What further infuriated the former Warriors gaffer is the fact that his men were so poor in attack that they did not manage a single shot on target for the entire game, with top strikers Brian Muza and Michael Charamba chasing shadows.
“We didn’t have a shot on target for the entire game. The players simply didn’t pitch up, and I blame it on our attitude today,” he added.
“These boys had a bad attitude because they were playing a team at the bottom of the log, but look now the result ended on the wrong side.
“I blame it on the defensive errors which we could have easily averted. These were all soft goals. It is all our own doing. We plotted our own downfall, but we have to keep our heads high.”
The prison wardens were forced to pull out Dibbelar Mapuwa owing to a muscle sprain after 21 minutes, with Tineyi Chitora replacing him.
While Mapuwa was stretched off the pitch in pain, the introduction of Chitora turned out to be a blessing in disguise as he went on to score with his first touch, a minute later.
The wardens returned from the break with the same impetus and doubled their lead in the 51st minute following a sizzling counter attack which was finished off by Horonga in the box.
Barake sealed the game for the prison wardens nine minutes from time with a beautiful goal from close range after dispossessing Chicken Inn’s last man Jackson outside the box before darting a low shot past goalie Bernard.
That was Barake’s six goal of the season, as he continues to punch above his weight as the wardens shining beacon.
Teams
WHAWHA: T Chiku, M Sibanda, R Useni, A Matope, M Chirwa, R Horonga, D Mapuwa(T Chitora 21) , T Jukulile, J Barake( A Matewu 90), N Tshuma(E Brown 84), T Saka
CHICKEN INN: D Bernard, R Hachiro, M Charamba ( M Hwata 58′) , N Ketala, M Jackson, B Amidu, I Mabunu, X Ndlovu, S Mhlanga, B Ncube (M Pini 71) B Muza (G Majika 49′)