CHICKEN Inn coach Joey Antipas is not giving up yet on the title chase despite his side’s loss of form that has seen them go through a four-match winless run.
BY FORTUNE MBELE
His side takes on bogey side Ngezi Platinum Stars in a mid-week league tie at Luveve Stadium this afternoon as they look to get back to winning ways.
The GameCocks have not beaten Ngezi Platinum in a league match since the latter were promoted to the Premier Soccer League in 2016.
Ngezi handed Chicken Inn their first defeat of the current season at Baobab Stadium in April, ending Chicken Inn’s run of three straight wins from the first three matches.
Antipas admits that his side faces two tough fixtures as they have to travel to Zvishavane for a date against champions FC Platinum on Saturday.
Chicken Inn have dropped to position four on the log table with 32 points, just three behind FC Platinum. “It’s another tough battle (against Ngezi) with more difficult fixtures ahead. We just have to keep our heads up and keep on fighting. We can never give up, but remain positive. It’s a bit worrying that we have four games without a win. We have got to work on our combinations until we strike the right chord,” said Antipas, who is still agonising at the loss of 14-goal hero Clive Augusto who joined South Africa’s Maritzburg United.
“He gave us the shape and he was our source of goals,” Antipas said.
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Ngezi Platinum, on position seven with 29 points have also struggled in the last three games after a good run and coach Erol Akbay attributes the bad patch to suspensions of Marlon Mushonga, Ariel Makopa and Frank Makarati and the injury to Donald Teguru.
Ngezi Platinum’s leading scorer, Teguru will miss the Chicken Inn tie because he is still nursing an injury while the Dutchman welcomes back Mushonga, Makopa and Makarati.
“It’s not good to be dropping points after a good run. But I am glad everyone is back and we have a strong squad, but Chicken Inn are very good and have very good players and they are not easy to beat. I hope we can win this one because we desperately need the points. It’s a must-win for us,” Akbay said.
