The Sunday Mail
Sports Reporter
Ngezi Platinum Stars ………………… 0
Chicken Inn………………………….(2) 2
JOEY ANTIPAS insists his charges will not get carried away with their fine form, but will enjoy their time in the sun as they finally broke their jinx and won a Castle Lager Premier Soccer League encounter at Baobab Stadium for the first time.
An elated Antipas revealed after yesterday’s match that Baobab had always been a difficult hunting ground for his side.
The Gamecocks had not even managed a draw in previous encounters against Ngezi Platinum Stars at the venue.
A first-half brace from Brett Amidu ensured the visitors would finally celebrate the previously elusive win.
Ngezi played most of the game with 10 men following the expulsion of MacDonald Makuwe midway into the first half.
“This is indeed a rare win for us. Since Ngezi came into the Premiership, we had not beaten them or managed a draw even in cup games.
“We thoroughly deserved to win this game because we outplayed them,’’ Antipas said.
The veteran coach said their gameplan, which was centred on closing out creative midfielder Denver Mukamba, had paid off.
He paid tribute to former Warriors fringe player Richard Hachiro for keeping Mukamba under lock and key until the 2012 Soccer Star of the Year was hauled off in the second period.
“We had a good game-plan, which was to cancel out Denver because he makes them tick.
“Without Denver, Ngezi are very average and I must say Hachiro did a good job of that; he neutralised him. He has settled in very well and has been playing some brilliant football at Chicken Inn.
“After getting both goals through Brett, and good goals at that, it was about managing the game in the second half because we knew they would come back hard at us.”
The win gave them a six-point lead at the top.
“For now, we are just enjoying the moment and taking it on a game-by-game basis without necessarily getting carried away or putting ourselves under pressure,’’ Antipas said.
Interim Ngezi coach Takesure Chiragwi blamed the defeat on a “poor start and wrong approach’’ by his team.
“I think we started on a bad note in terms of our application. We were very slow to the ball, we took time to close in on the opponents and we generally took time to settle into the game.
“We got punished for some sloppy marking in their first goal then we went down to 10 men when Makuwe was sent off. Before we had fully recovered from that set-back, they grabbed their second goal,’’ he said.
He believes the miners upped their game in the second stanza, albeit too late to challenge an experienced side like Chicken Inn.
The former CAPS United midfielder believes Ngezi could build on their strong finish to the game before their next match away to Bulawayo Chiefs.
PSL Results:
Ngezi Platinum 0- 2 Chicken Inn
Black Rhinos 2-1 Bulawayo Chiefs
Bulawayo City 1-3 Triangle
Herentals 2-3 CAPS United
ZPC Kariba 0 – 1 Tenax CS
