Hail Antipas
…as Chicken Inn FC land their maiden leag
C
Tafadzwa Dombodzvuku
hicken are this year’s winners
of the domestic Castle lager
premiership and in the process
they have taken the trophy back
to Bulawayo after nine years of waiting
when Highlanders last won it.
Their coach Joey Mafero Antipas who
also made history in 2010 when he won
the league title with the now defunct
Motor Action, wrote another piece of
history when he become the first coach in
the land to win the trophy twice with two
different teams after the millennium.
An ecstatic Chicken Inn gaffer, Joey
Antipas could not hide his joy after
picking up his second title, winning the
first with the now-defunct Motor Action
in 2010.
“I am very chaffed with our
performance. We knew the destiny of the
title was in our own hands and we had to
take the bull by its horns. We had good
performances throughout the season and
we stuck together.
Page 40
“Of course, we had a couple of defeats,
but we came back together and it is the
togetherness that was key. We could have
won it with four games remaining, but it
is never easy to win the championship,”
Antipas said.
It all started in earnest and nobody
could have given Chicken Inn FC a chance
considering Dynamos’ dominance in the
local premiership.
The Harare giants under the tutelage
of Calisto Pasuwa had gone for four
consecutive years winning the league
and most staunch football fans thought
it is going to be the same old story for
Dynamos but Antipas masterminded a
good plan and gave Dynamos a good run
for their money before he won the league
with a game to spare.
With just ten games to go there were
three teams in the race, FC Platinum,
Dynamos and the current winners but
Dynamos took off their foot on the pedal
in week 25 when they played a 1-1 draw
with Harare City.
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The defending champions slip up gave
the chance to Norman Mapeza coached
side FC Platinum to mount a strong
challenge to the Bulawayo based side who
were looking as sharp as a needle in their
quest for the first league trophy.
Only two points separated the two
sides with two games left to play and some
bookmakers were tipping FC Platinum
to pull a shocker but their predictions
suffered a major blow when they
were held to a one all draw by
the resurgent Caps United and
at the same time the Gamecocks as
Chicken Inn are affectionately known
were winning 3-1 against Harare City
at Luveve stadium.
It was not a stroll in the park for
Chicken Inn who had to stay
organised despite starting
lackadaisically at the
beginning of the league
back in March and at
one point in time some
doubted Antipas to
December 2015