Chicken Inn through to quarter-finals

Chicken Inn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (2) 2 Harare City . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0

TWO well-executed first-half goals at Luveve Stadium yesterday sent Chicken Inn into the quarter-finals of the Chibuku Super Cup after beating Harare City 2-0 in the first round of the country’s most prestigious club competition.

Munashe Pini opened the scoring for the Gamecocks in the 29th minute after the ball ricocheted off the post before going in after an excellent pass from Tafadzwa Kutinyu.

Four minutes later, an immaculate exchange of passes between Denzel Khumalo and Malvern Gaki saw the latter produce a brilliant strike that beat Kelvin Shangwa in goals for Harare City.

Joey Antipas, the Chicken Inn coach, felt they deserved the win since they took their chances in the first half before controlling proceedings in the second stanza. “I thought we deserved it,” said Antipas. “The first half we dominated the game, created chances, took our chances and that’s cup football.

“If you don’t put away your chances, you will struggle and the next thing you end up in the penalty shootout or you go down,” he said.

His Harare City counterparts were pained by the defeat.

“Very painful considering that Harare City over the years have enjoyed some fair share of success in the Chibuku Super Cup.

“As a coach, I have won it twice – once with Harare City and then with Triangle.

“We fancied our chances,’’ remarked Mangwiro.

However, Mangwiro was not pleased with referee Thabani Bamala.

“Its small little things that make a difference in the game. You saw me being bitter about what I thought was not a foul and it’s what gave Chicken Inn the ascendency.

“From the resultant restart, they went on to score and that upset our rhythm,’’ fumed Mangwiro.

Teams

Chicken Inn: D Bernard, P Bernard, M Whata (Muza 74 mins), N Ketala, V Moyo, S Mhlanga (Chinda 83 mins), T Kutinyu (Dzingai 63 mins), X Ndlovu, D Khumalo (Amidu 74 mins), M Gaki (Charamba 83 mins), M Pini

Harare City: K Shangwa, D Dzvinyai, I Zambezi, T Mugoniwa (Stanley Masukuta 46 mins) D Mudadi, D Masukuta, O Tafira(Mandinyenya 79 mins) Z Bizeki, T Mukono (Muvirimi 66 mins), V Mukutairi (Ziocha 46 mins), T January