BULAWAYO - Chicken Inn coach Joey Antipas could only heap praise on his players after Saturday’s convincing 3-0 victory over Harare City in their opening game of the 2014 Castle Premiership season at Luveve Stadium.
The Gamecocks scored only after eight minutes when Canaan Nkomo capitalised on a mistake by City defender Munyaradzi Kunyarimwe on the edge of the box.
A clever build up between Brian Juru and Mkhokeli Dube caught out Kunyarimwe allowing Nkomo to slot the ball past the exposed City keeper Maxwell Nyamupanedengu.
Dube scored the second goal 10 minutes before the half time break when he got to the end of a clever pass from Tendai Mukambi before slotting a low shot past Nyamupanedengu.
Second half substitute Ishmael Lawe put the icing on the cake for the home side when he punished Nyamupanedengu, who had spilled a low shot from Bheki Ncube in the 90th minute.
Antipas was delighted by the display from his players against a team that is considered to be one of the favourites to win the title this season.
“I thought the boys played very well and things fell into place when we took control of the midfield from the first whistle. This result gives us confidence when we go forward,” said Antipas.
“We will take each game as it comes and I give the boys a 100 out of a 100 mark for the way they played today.”
Harare City coach Bigboy Mawiwi was critical of the shambolic defensive display by his team yesterday.
“It’s a bad start after conceding following a schoolboy blunder from our defender Munyaradzi Munyarimwe,” Mawiwi told reporters after the game.
“Our approach to the game was very casual. It’s very difficult to recover if you conceded early because it makes the opponents stronger.
“What is important now is that we have to respond and win out next game after this display.”
It was clear from the opening exchanges that the home side wanted the points more as they were quick to the ball.
The Harare City players were second to the ball in these opening minutes and it was no surprise when they fell behind early on to Nkomo’s goal.
Even after going behind, the visitors never really lifted their game as Chicken Inn continued to dominate in midfield where Danny Phiri played a blinder of the match.
The second goal by Dube knocked the stuffing out of City as they had an uphill task to get back in the game.
At the start of the second half Mawiwi tried to inject pace into his team by bringing in Talent Chawapihwa for debutant Mehli Sibanda, who struggled to make an impression in the opening 45 minutes.
Mawiwi also brought in Agrippa Murimab and Osborne Mukuradare for Martin Vengesayi and Misheck Mburayi later on in the second half.
The changes, however, failed to inspire the visitors, who would then go on to concede t the stroke of full time.
Teams
Chicken Inn: Liberty Chirava, Moses Jackson, Brian Mbiriri, Ben Nyahunzvi, CharlesMutero, Danny Phiri, Brian Juru, Canaan Nkomo (George Majika 85 min),Bheki Ncube, Mkhokheli Dube (Thabani Goredema 74 min), Tendai Mukambi(Ishmael Lawe 67 min)
Harare City: Maxwell Nyamungadengu, David Kutyauripo, Munyaradzi Kunyarimwe,Crispen Dickson, Arnold Chivheya, James Jamu, Nathan Ziwini, MisheckMburayi (Osborne Mukuradare 55 min) Martin Vengesai (Agrippa Murimba78 min), Mhleli Sibanda (Talent Chawapihwa 46 min)