CHICKEN INN . . . . . . . 0 BULAWAYo CITY . . . (1) 1 CHAMPIONS Chicken Inn suffered their second defeat on the trot when they lost to newboys Bulawayo City in a lukewarm Castle Lager Premier Soccer League tie at Luveve Stadium.
BY FORTUNE MBELE
The GameCocks, without outgoing coach Joey Antipas who is in Denmark on family business, did not play like champions yesterday.
They played second fiddle to Bulawayo City, who got their first win of the season with a solitary goal from Eddie Nkulungo in the seventh minute.
“We were not very effective going forward and we carried the ball too much. We have lost, but we will regroup. We are not under pressure at all and we are still on track to defend the title,” he said.
Bulawayo City coach Philani “Beefy” Ncube said the first win was a sign of better things to come.
“More wins are coming. Technically, we won last week [against Highlanders] and today, we were just perfecting. We forced Chicken Inn to play our own game and when we made changes, we brought in defenders, but functionally we were not in defensive mode as we kept on coming at them at many missed chances,” he said.
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Their goal resulted from a build-up initiated by veteran striker Mkhokheli Dube in a move that also involved Innocent Kutsanzira, who sent through Eddie Nkulungo.
Nkulungo then rounded off Chicken Inn central defender Moses Jackson before easily placing the ball past goalkeeper Pride Zendera.
City could have opened the scoreline in the fourth minute, but Emmanuel Mandiranga’s strike inside the penalty box was saved by Zendera.
Chicken Inn only came close to scoring when Obadiah Tarumbwa missed a header in the 63rd minute from a Michelle Katsvairo cross.
Meanwhile, Chicken Inn filed a complaint with match commissioner Bryton Malandule, alleging Bulawayo City had allowed some of their fans free entry into the stadium when the GameCocks were at home.
“Maybe they [Bulawayo City] took advantage that they own the stadium and they allowed people to go in for free. They opened the gate on the eastern side and we don’t know how many people they allowed in, after which they locked the gate. We have lodged a complaint with the match commissioner,” Chicken Inn secretary Tavengwa Hara said.
Teams: Chicken Inn: P Zendera, P Bernard, D Lunga, M Jackson, L Mhlanga, D Phiri, G Majika (T Goredema 55’), C Matawu, M Katsvairo, E Chirambadare, O Tarumbwa (I Lawe) Bulawayo City: N Sibanda, P Zireni, T Majo, N Mukumbi, Z Sibanda, X Moyo, B Chikwenya, E Nkulungo, M Dube, I Kutsanzira (L Ncube 52’), E Mandiranga (B Dube 67’)
