Chicken Inn edge Border strikers

Border Strikers  0 - 1 Chicken Inn
CHAMPIONS Chicken Inn continued with their defence of the Castle Lager Premiership soccer title when they dismissed debutants Border Strikers through a sucker punch by defender Devine Lunga at Maglas yesterday.

A 91st minute strike from Lunga was all the Gamecocks needed to collect maximum points past a stubborn Beitbridge-based side. Edmore "Spanner" Chirambadare, who had tormented the Border Strikers defence the whole afternoon, went past defender Peter Muzondo on the left and sent a hard and low cross in the box from the right.

The hosts defence partially cleared the ball which fell on to the path of Lunga who released a stinger with his left foot that goalkeeper Gilbert Chigwandaza only managed to retrieve from the back of the nets.

The match, however, started 30 minutes late after Border Strikers failed to produce licenses for their players as their team manager who had the licenses arrived late. They also had to rely on the medics from Chicken Inn as coach Saul Chamunika and his technical team were barred from sitting on the technical bench after failing to produce proof that they had paid $200 fee each for the technical license.

Chaminuka and his team were only allowed to sit on the bench with a few minutes to go to the breather after he was forced to bark instructions from the media platform at Maglas. Moses Jackson was denied a chance to score in the 89th minute when he saw his effort cleared from the line by Muzondo after beating the Border Strikers goalminder.

Earlier on Obadiah Tarumbwa missed a seater in the 75th minute. Chiramabadare dribbled past Frank Mukarati and Muzondo and sent a cross that eluded the Border Strikers goal minder and with a yawning goal in front, Tarumbwa missed the ball completely.

Coach Joey Antipas men could have won by a wider margin but they were frustrated by Border Strikers who were parking the bus as they tried to frustrate the visitors. Border Strikers coach Chaminuka was not a happy man after the match.

"I am not happy at all because I don't know what the administration is doing. They came to inspect our stadium on Friday but they told us that we were going to play the match here at Maglas instead of our home ground in Beitbridge.

"Why they didn't inform us in time so that we could have come and practice here. I spent the fist half not sitting on the bench and Joey(Antipas) had the advantage over me. Why that was done I don't know. If we had not paid (our license fees) why then did they allow us to sit on the technical area.

"My administration also played a part in the problem. Coming back to the match, I think we played well, it's just that my players failed to concentrate in the last minute but such is football.

"I am hurt that we lost points because some teams are already gathering points," said Chaminuka.

His counterpart Antipas was a happy man.

"We had a hard time. They were parking the bus and frustrating our play. The pitch was a bit bumpy but the good thing is we managed to grind a result," said the championship-winning coach.

Border Strikers were forced to play in Zvishavane after their stadia failed to impress the PSL inspection team last Friday.

Stadiums are expected to have doping rooms, proper VIP sitting, a minimum sitting capacity of 5 000 among other essential features.

Border Strikers lost their maiden top flight match 2-0 away to ZPC Kariba last weekend and yesterday they continued singing the blues against the PSL defending champions. Teams

Border Strikers: G. Chigwandaza, P. Muzondo, M. Variso, E. Mwinga, F. Makarati, B. Chirumanzu, H. Makosa (P. Sibanda 84th minute), K. Kwashi, A. Banana, S. Chaminuka (D. Tito 76th minute)

Chicken Inn: E. Chipezeze, D. Lunga, P. Bernard, L. Mhlanga, M. Jackson, D. Phiri, T. Kutinyu, G. Majika (N. Muchadeyi 69th minute), C. Matawu, E. Chirambadare, O. Tarumbwa