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Tawanda Mangoma in Chiredzi
Chiredzi 0- 1 Chicken  Inn
Chiredzi suffered a major blow yesterday after suffering a home defeat against Chicken Inn at Chishamiso Stadium.
The lowveld-based side came into the match needing to collect maximum points to ease their relegation woes. They are still at the foot of the table with 11 points after 20 matches.

The home side was very wasteful as they failed to bury a number of glorious chances which came their way.
Chiredzi continued to display a very exciting passing game but their otherwise talismanic striker David Temwanjira let them down as he continuously missed clear chances.

With 13 minutes played the host’s solid defender Ronald Maketo watched in disbelief as Chicken Inn goalkeeper Elvis Chipezeze delivered a fine save to stop his powerful shot from a free-kick just outside the box.

Maketo continued to deliver fine counter attack deliveries but his efforts were wasted.
Chicken Inn took the lead in the 26th minute after capitalising on a defensive lapse by Chiredzi which saw defender Lawrence Mlanga’s header beating Chiredzi goalminder Simon Kafitire.

Chiredzi FC head coach Gishon Ntini made a tactical substitution with 32 minutes on the clock as he introduced skilful and young striker Malvern Gaki for Kudzai Nyamupfukudza.

The introduction did not yield any notable result as they even struggled to reach the opposition goal.
Temwanjira was on the 33rd minute blessed with a Tawanda Mpungu through pass, left with only  Chipezeze to beat but his charge was fruitless as assistant referee Antony Siyavunda had his flag up for offside.

The highly expectant crowd from Chiredzi came in their numbers to witness the glorious play which their side displayed in Mutare when they defeated Buffaloes 4-3 in the Chibuku Super Cup first round.

The second half started with the visitors depending on sporadic counter-attacks as they defended in numbers to preserve their lead.
In-form Chipezeze who was in a class of his own produced a fine save in the 62th when he denied Maketo from a free-kick tipping the resultant shot for a corner-kick.

Ntini introduced Norman Maroto for Munashe Chinembeza to improve his strike-force but again the substitution failed to produce an equaliser.

Ntini blamed the tight PSL fixture for his team’s loss saying his players had no rest as they played two games in three days.
“My boys played well but the greatest challenge is we played two games in three days and most of my players had not recovered fully. We had some of our key players out on suspension and my selection pool is only 18 hence the boys had a challange of fatigue,” said Ntini.
His counterpart, Joey Antipas paid tribute to his players for acclimatising to the high Chiredzi temperatures to display a  good performance.

“It was a good game, my players managed to put up a good performance.
We played under very high temperatures and I give credit to my boys for playing well.  I am, however, happy that we managed to collect three points after defending our one goal because Chiredzi was proving dangerous with their long balls,” he said.