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Tadious Manyepo
Sports Reporter
CHICKEN Inn have lost the plot and appear to be surrendering the fight in the Castle Lager Premiership football championship race.
Dynamos have done well to remain in contention for the now two-horse race title charge with leaders FC Platinum.
The latter consolidated their lead at the top with a 2-0 win over Manica Diamonds on Saturday at Mandava.
The victory lifted them to 55 points, six ahead of Dynamos who are second with just eight games to the finish line.
Chicken Inn suffered a second defeat on the trot as they allowed Ngezi Platinum Stars to come from behind and beat them 2-1 at Luveve on Saturday.
The Joey “Mafero” Antipas-coached team are now 10 points behind leaders FC Platinum.
Although they retain an arithmetic chance of winning the league title, Chicken Inn will need to benefit from a miraculous capitulation of FC Platinum in the last eight games to stand a practical chance of taking home the crown which they last won in 2015.
It is Dynamos, though, who kept their push for the title alive with a scrappy 2-1 victory over Harare City at the National Sports Stadium on Sunday.
The Glamour Boys struggled for fluency as they spent most of the afternoon chasing Harare City’s shadows but the Glamour Boys still found a way to grind the result that mattered the most.
Dynamos are not ready to throw in the towel as yet although they are six points behind the Zvishavane miners.
Coach Tonderai Ndiraya said it was important for the Glamour Boys to focus on themselves and the things they have control over.
He expressed some concerns over the manner in which his defence is playing emphasising the need to be compact as the race heads for the home stretch.
“The fight continues; the most important thing is to keep on putting pressure on the team at the top.
“We have maintained that gap and the three points we got against Harare City will take us a little bit away from Chicken Inn,” said Ndiraya.
“So we need to keep on the focus. There are still a lot of games. There is no room for us to slip up, we just need to get the points in every game that we are going to play.
“There are no easy matches ahead of us and we just have to keep on fighting. I think what is important is to get the results like we did against Harare City.”
While the title race is now effectively between Dynamos and FC Platinum, the competition for the top four has become even stiffer.
Highlanders, on 41 points, made sure they stay in the mix with a 3-2 win over Yadah at the National Sports Stadium last Friday while Herentals, who are a point behind Bosso are fifth after playing a 1-1 draw with CAPS United at the same venue on Saturday.
Black Rhinos, who have made a strong case for a top-four finish in recent weeks, suffered a huge setback after losing 1-0 to Bulawayo Chiefs at Luveve on Sunday.
That allowed Manica Diamonds and Triangle to overtake them on the table.
The army side, who suffered their first defeat since Stanford “Stix” Mutizwa took over the reins, dropped three places down the ladder as they remained with 38 points and eighth on the log.
They are now two points behind both Manica Diamonds, who lost to FC Platinum, and Triangle, who got a major boost after their 3-0 win over Bulawayo City at Gibbo on Sunday.
With their key win over Chicken Inn, Ngezi Platinum can still fancy their chances of finishing in the top three as they are now on 37 points, just four behind fourth-placed Highlanders.
At the other end of the log, ZPC Kariba did themselves a huge favour after collecting all the points against Tenax to move away from the fall zone.
They are now three points ahead of Bulawayo City who occupy the last relegation slot.
Their coach Rodwell Dhlakama said the club will fight to avoid the chop.
“We are not a relegation team. My players have been lacking in their confidence but it seems they are now positive. We will fight on and try to see that we avoid the dreaded axe.
“We are a team who have never been relegated since making our top-flight debut in 2014 and we are fighting to avoid the drop,” said Dhlakama.
Online Reporter