Chikuni beats his master

02 Jul, 2017 - 00:07 0 Views

The Sunday Mail

Munyaradzi Musiiwa
Chapungu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (1) 2
Chicken Inn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .(0) 0

Chicken Inn yesterday lost ground on leaders Dynamos and Ngezi Platinum when the Bulawayo-based outfit went down 2-0 to Chapungu in the biggest upset of match day 16. Goals by Allen Tavarwisa in the 42nd minute and Raymond Sibanda strike in the 73rd minute settled matters for the Airmen, whose gaffer – Tendai Chikuni – was coming up against his mentor Rahman Gumbo.

Gumbo could not get the better of his protégé in their first meeting after the two worked together in sourjons, taking them to Malawi and Botswana as with Chikuni as an assistant. The two would venture together, yet again, when Dr Rush landed the FC Platinum job in 2011 with Chikuni in tow.

After being separated at the platinum miners in 2012 when management pulled the plug on Gumbo, Chikuni was weaned and yesterday’s match was the first meeting between the two since then. Despite coming into the match as underdogs, the Chapungu coach showed that he was a good student taking control of the proceedings for the better part of the match and coming out with a result.

Chikuni was humble in victory, tribute to his “master” for the guidance. “It was really a balanced game and in the early minutes we were more organised. We, however, were able to read the game and the way they tried to change it in the second half, by bringing in experienced players to bolster their attack, was not enough.

“Rahman will always by the master but this is football. For me to be what I am it is because of him and he is like a father to me. It was not easy for me because most of the tricks and tactics I used today I learnt from him,” he said.

So distraught was Gumbo with the defeat that he refused to entertain journalists and sent his assistant, Julius Ndlovu, to speak to the media. “I am very disappointed with the loss and even if the referee had given us another hour of play it doesn’t look like we were going to score because everything was not going our way. Chapungu were tactically superior and we couldn’t penetrate,” Ndlovu said.

Ngezi are top of the table with 31 points, while Dynamos are second on 29. Yesterday’s defeat leaves Chicken Inn third with 28 points.

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