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Garthly Chipuka

Innocent Kurira, Sports Reporter
BULAWAYO Chiefs coach Garthly Chipuka says his side failed to reach its set target for the first half of the 2018 Castle Lager Premiership season and will be hoping for a turn in fortunes when the league resumes in a fortnight’s time.

Chipuka said they had set themselves a minimum target of 20 points from 17 games, but they could only manage 18 points.

A victory over ZPC Kariba this past weekend would have seen the Premiership debutants reaching their set target, but they were humbled 2-0.

Chiefs made a bright start to the season and were in the top eight for nine games, but fizzled out as the demands of topflight football took a toll.

The new boys, however, managed to develop a nice reputation for themselves as the league’s giant killers after outfoxing log leaders FC Platinum 2-0, Highlanders 1-0 and Ngezi Platinum Stars 1-0. It was against so-called weak opposition that they struggled.

Chipuka said their main focus during the break is to beef the strike force, as that department has been their major letdown.

“We failed to meet our own set target in the first part of the season. Our target was a minimum of 20 points at the halfway mark, but we have fallen short of that. Our biggest undoing has been lack of consistency, which was obviously caused by injuries to our strikers,” said Chipuka.

“You’ll also realise that we play well, but if you don’t score from the chances you create, you can only hold on for a while at the back. We are going to be hunting for strikers in the mid-season window. If we find the right personal in that department, I’m very confident that we will survive relegation,” he said.

Chiefs have been forced to use defender Moses Majika as their main striker in most games following injuries to forwards, skipper Kundishora Chakanyuka, Mgcini Mpofu, Dylan Chivandire and Farau Matare.

Going into the second half of the season, teams are expected to beef up their squads for a final assault on the title and battle against relegation.