Chicken Inn brace for Dynamos

By Ricky Zililo

Chicken Inn are bracing for a difficult start to the second half of the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League season with a visit to Dynamos. The Gamecocks, who were champions in 2015, resume the campaign in third spot with 30 points; 14 behind table toppers FC Platinum, a gap Joey Antipas believes is hard to reduce.

Antipas told Chronicle Sport after his team’s training session yesterday that their target was to collect more points than they did in the first half of the season.

“We are ready and good to go. One thing I know is that the second half is difficult because all teams will up their game, so we also have to do the same. We have to make sure that we control what is controllable by winning our games and fighting hard to collect as many points as we can,” said Antipas.

“We beat them 1-0 in Bulawayo at the beginning of the season and now being a new ball game altogether, we are anticipating a tightly contested game because they’ve probably beefed up their squad and are keen to do better as well. We will go there to fight for maximum points and if we carry the attitude we had when we went for our last game, I have no doubt we can bring home a positive result,” he said.

Chicken Inn beat Triangle United 1-0 at Gibbo Stadium, while Dynamos edged Nichrut 2-1 at home heading into the mid-season break about a fortnight ago.

Dynamos are ninth on the log with 20 points, an unacceptable position for their multitude of fans, who are accustomed to contending for the title.

A series of poor results led to Kenny Mubaiwa quitting as Dynamos’ chairman after the board overturned his decision to fire coach Lloyd Mutasa.

The Dynamos gaffer is hard-pressed to prove that reinstating him wasn’t a mistake by delivering positive results, starting with the Chicken Inn game.

Meanwhile, Antipas revealed that they have recalled midfielder Joel Nyabinde from loan at Shabanie Mine. He also said they had signed central defender Last Sithole as a free agent from Bulawayo Chiefs as well as goalkeeper Sam Mafukidze from Shabanie Mine.

“Negotiations are underway to bring a couple of players on board. It’s difficult to get quality players during the mid-season transfer window as teams hang onto their main players. If we fail to make any more additions, I think with the present squad we can safely say we are content,” said Antipas.

Chicken Inn have lost goalkeeper Elvis Chipezeze to South African Premiership side FC Baroka and they’re also set to lose left-back Divine Lunga, who is on the radar of many South African topflight teams.

Fixtures
Saturday: Harare City v Caps United (Rufaro, 2PM), FC Platinum v ZPC Kariba (Mandava, 2PM), Herentals v Ngezi Platinum Stars (National Sports Stadium, 2PM)

Sunday: Mutare City Rovers v Nichrut (Vengere), Dynamos v Chicken Inn (Rufaro), Black Rhinos v Highlanders (National Sports Stadium), Bulawayo Chiefs v Yadah FC (Luveve), Triangle United v Shabanie Mine (Gibbo), Chapungu v Bulawayo City (Ascot)

*All matches start at 3PM unless stated
The Chronicle