The Sunday Mail

Langton Nyakwenda

Chicken Inn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .(2) 3
Harare City . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (1) 1

CHICKEN INN penned a new chapter in the history of Zimbabwean football when they clinched the league title with a game to spare after thumping Harare City at Luveve yesterday.
Goals from George Majika, Tafadzwa Kutinyu and Michelle Katsvairo propelled the Gamecocks to an unassailable 58 points after closest rivals FC Platinum, who are now on 54 points, were held to a 1-1 draw by Caps United at Mandava.
Talent Chawapiwa scored Harare City’s only goal with a stinging left footer but that was not enough to stop Chicken Inn from ending Dynamos’ dominance which stretched back to 2011.
The Gamecocks also became the first team from outside Harare to win the league title since 2006 when Highlanders won it.
They join Motor Action, Gunners, Monomotapa and Amazulu as the only other clubs to have won the league title apart from the big three of Dynamos, Highlanders and Caps United since the inception of the Premiership in 1993.
Joey Antipas and his boys lifted the championship in style, turning on the power against a formidable Harare City, just when everybody thought they were choking after registering three consecutive draws prior to yesterday’s clash.
Two quick goals inside the first 20 minutes must have been a start Antipas had prayed for, although the veteran gaffer will have City keeper Maxwell Nyamupangedengu to thank for an unexpected gift.
Nyamupangedengu failed to deal with Majika’s miscued cross and watched haplessly as it found the target off the upright post on 13 minutes. Five minutes later, another Nyamupangedengu howler gifted Chicken Inn their second goal, with Kutinyu capitalising on a mix-up between the keeper and Munyaradzi Diro to slot home.
Harare City pulled one back in the 29th minute through deadly winger Chawapiwa as the visitors seized control of the game but Antipas displayed his shrewdness in the second stanza when he played five at the back, in an express statement that he wanted to close shop.
The plan worked well for Antipas before Katsvairo put the matter beyond City’s jurisdiction seven minutes from time when he curled the ball home after being set up by a lively Edmore Chirambadare.
When experienced referee Thabani Bamala blew the final whistle in the 92nd minute, Chicken Inn players and technical staff paused a bit as they awaited confirmation of results from Mandava.
When it came, they broke into wild celebrations, Antipas was hoisted into the air and their small band of fans invaded the pitch.
City coach Taurai Mangwiro admitted Chicken Inn came fired up for the encounter.
“You do not concede those soft goals to a team that is high on confidence like Chicken Inn, you get punished,” he said.
Teams
Chicken Inn: E. Chipezeze, P. Bernard, E. Chirambadare, T. Kutinyu (M. Jackson 75), D. Phiri, M. Katsvairo, C. Matawu, B. Mbiriri, L. Mhlanga, B. Nyanhunzvi, G. Majika (T. Goredema 55)
Harare City: M. Nyamupangedengu, M. Diro, G. Chimwemwe, D. Kutyauripo (M. Vengesayi 58), T. Ndlovu, T. Samanja, J. Jam, W. Manondo, T. Chawapiwa, K. Kumwala, F. Zekumbawire (N. Ziwini 84)

Hail Mafero and his Gamecocks

Makomborero Mutimukulu Sports Editor
FOR Joey Antipas, this championship was his from the day his side came to Harare and dismantled a then unbeaten Dynamos at Rufaro.
Prior to the DeMbare clash — on May 3 — Antipas was yet to be convinced that his boys had the character needed to mount a successful title challenge.
But the manner in which skipper Danny “Deco” Phiri did a job on the freshly dethroned champions had him believing long before his boys knew just how good they were.
Long before his players started talking about the possibility of a title, the experienced gaffer knew they would be in the in the mix.
And when The Sunday Mail visited Antipas at his Bulawayo home during the mid-season break, the Chicken Inn gaffer gave us sound bites he embargoed “at least until the end of the season”.
Well the season is yet to end, with Match Day 30 coming up next weekend, but Antipas and his men are champions.
Let’s lift the lid.
“Yo Mako this one is between us, not for publication you check?” said Antipas as he was about to give his thoughts on a team he described as much better than the Motor Action side he won a maiden title with back in 2010.
“These boys will win the title unless we * * * it up ourselves. They are that good.
“The second half of the season will be difficult because the other teams will target us as the team to beat while the boys will start believing that it’s possible and that’s dangerous. The expectations need to be managed.
“For me, I knew we are championship contenders when we beat Dynamos at Rufaro but the players will know soon and that is something we have to manage . . . manage the expectations.”
The second half of the season wasn’t as difficult as Antipas envisaged, it was worse off.
The challenge was psychological.
A 1-0 defeat to Dynamos on September 27 at Barbourfields triggered a mini crisis that saw Chicken Inn winning only one of their last five games before yesterday’s clash with Harare City.
That triumph, a 2-1 victory over How Mine, was followed by identical 1-all stalemates with Chicken Inn, WhaWha and Tsholotsho.
In a season they appeared to have it all under control until the last couple of weeks, the Chicken Inn players had never given their gaffer a reason to “really explode”.
But at Ascot last weekend the Gamecocks players gave Antipas the perfect reason to give them the hair drier treatment that only the ex-Mighty Bulls trio of Passmore Bernard, Bekhi Ncube and Clemence Matawu knew.
The 1-all draw with WhaWha had Antipas mad, very mad but the now two time championship winning coach did not show it in Gweru. There was no need, training would resume on Monday. And when Chicken Inn regrouped Antipas gave his boys some much needed verbal dosage.
In an address that had everyone , including his trusted assistant Prince Matore, starring at the ground in shame, Antipas warned his team that they were about to * * * it up.
With Norman Mapeza and his FC Platinum coming hot at them, the Chicken Inn coach demanded a reaction, an immediate one.
The Bulawayo Derby against relegation-threatened Tsholotsho came midweek and there were some improvements but not a full points haul, it was a point.
Another dose was needed and it came Friday evening. It wasn’t as lethal as the Monday one but it got Antipas’ boys galvanised enough to go out and knock the life out of Harare City. And with Caps United coming out of Mandava, the Gamecocks were confirmed champions for the first time in their lives, Antipas for the second time in his eventful life.
He won it in 2010 with Motor Action so it’s not new territory but Antipas yesterday still claimed to be at a loss for words before going on to say a mouthful.
“I am at a loss of words,” the Chicken Inn gaffer said after the 3-1 win over Harare City.
“I am overjoyed but I must say we really put in a lot of hard work to achieve this. The boys did it and I am really chuffed about it.
“Not much I can say, perhaps I just have to go and celebrate with the boys. Yes, our strategy worked well, we wanted to go all out in attack in the first half and it was good we got those two goals.
“The huge task I had before the game was to lift the boys’ morale, you see after going for three games without a win it was always going to be difficult. I told them the destiny of the league championship was in our hands, they went out there fired up, they did it and I am just chuffed. It has been a long journey, credit goes to the boys.”