Chicken Inn fire blanks 

YADAH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0

CHICKEN INN . . . . . . . . . . . .  0

CHICKEN Inn’s stuttering start to the new season continues after they were held to a goalless draw by a hugely depleted Yadah at the Heart Stadium yesterday.

It was a second consecutive goalless draw for the 2015 league champions following another stalemate against Bikita Minerals in their season opener last week.

It almost got even worse for the Joey Antipas-coached side against a Yadah side, who had one substitute on the bench.

Yadah are serving a Fifa ban which restricts them from registering new players.

They had two players on the bench last week when they narrowly lost 1-0 to Manica Diamonds, conceding a goal in the last minute of stoppage time.

The home side looked the more adventurous of the two teams in yesterday’s encounter.

Chicken Inn bossed possession, but looked clueless everytime they reached the final third.

An uneventful first half saw Brian Muza missing a good chance for Chicken Inn, while Jerry Chipangura headed over for the hosts early in the second half.

Tinashe Mashaireni should have given the visitors the lead just before the half hour mark, but he dragged his shot wide after goalkeeper George Munhupedzi had made a mess of a high ball inside the box.

At the other end, Chipangura threaded a through pass to Evans Rusike inside the box, but the striker rushed his shot which went straight into the grateful hands of goalkeeper Donovan Bennard.

The home team ended the match strongly with Chipangura and Vincent Sango failing to utilise the half chances that came their way.

Antipas admitted that his team have started the season slowly and is hoping they will pick their form soon.

“It was a battling performance from my team. Yadah are not an easy team to beat especially when they are playing at home. We will take the point,” Antipas said.

“But as a club, we still have work to do. We dominated the majority of the exchanges, but we lacked that hunger to win.

“We had a couple of good chances in the first half, but we failed to put them away. We are still trying to get the side together.”

The GameCocks mentor added: “We have the players, but we are trying to get the winning combination.

“We have played two and drawn two, it’s a slow start, but I would prefer that than losing.

“We have to continue working and get ready for the game against FC Platinum next week.”

Yadah coach Ikabort Masocha praised his boys’ resilience.

“I would want to applaud the spirit and the desire in the team,” he said.

“This is the second game running playing with less numbers in terms of the 18-man squad that are expected to be in the team.

“But you could see how the players behave on the pitch on and off the ball. It’s something that we are really amazed about and we can only get better.”

He added: “We would want the situation to be rectified as soon as possible.

“Last week, we thought we would have the numbers that are required, but it’s an administration issue, so we are hoping that this will be sorted like yesterday.”

Teams

Yadah: G Munhupedzi, T Maguranyanga, T Vareta, M Faranando, M Mlilo, F Mustafa (B Ncube, 86’), V Sango, J Chipangura, T Chikumba, A Makopa, E Rusike

Chicken Inn: D Bennard, K Dzingwe, M Bhebhe, J Tulani, X Ndlovu, L Mangaira, G Muchenje, M Feldman (M Charamba, 46’), T Mashaireni (E Farasi, 75’), G Mutungamiri (G Majika, 75’), B Muza (K Nyamutenha, 75’)