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Rahman Gumbo

Sikhumbuzo Moyo, Acting Sports Editor
CHAMPIONSHIP chasing Chicken Inn will be seeking to bounce back to winning ways at the expense of relegation threatened Shabanie Mine when the two sides lock horns in a league match at Maglas Stadium tomorrow afternoon.

The encounter will be the first of an action packed weekend that  might see Bulawayo side Bantu Rovers officially relegated from the Premier Soccer League if they lose to Harare City at Rufaro Stadium on Saturday, provided the GameCocks continue with their sudden loss of form and lose to Shabanie Mine tomorrow.

Bantu Rovers can only end the season on 34 points even if they win all their remaining seven games but a loss will see them mathematically ending on 31 points and not enough to extricate themselves from the gallows of relegation. It is therefore in the interest of Tshintsha Guluva that Shabanie Mine lose their game tomorrow.

The GameCocks go into tomorrow’s encounter on the backdrop of a 4-0 hammering by their neighbours Highlanders in the league while they were also booted out of the Chibuku Super Cup via a boardroom decision after allegedly walking out of their encounter against  Yadah FC at Ascot Stadium, the same side that put a halt to their nine game unbeaten run in the league.

There is no doubt that the Maglas encounter, set to be beamed live on SuperSport, will produce all the fireworks reminiscent of sides fighting for different reasons, Shabanie Mine — survival while Chicken Inn have their eyes firmly set on the championship. They go into Zvishavane pegged on position four with 51 points, five behind leaders Dynamos but might return to the City of Kings just two points behind The Glamour Boys who have a tricky encounter away to ZPC Kariba on Saturday.

ZPC Kariba coach Sunday Chidzambwa has already said he will not do any favours to his boyhood side.

“I am a Dynamos son but at the moment I am contracted to ZPC Kariba so once we are on the pitch, it is a different game altogether, my allegiance will be to my team. I know Dynamos have been doing well hence they are on top of the log. We haven’t been doing well but we want to do well in this game. I am looking at a game of football for 90 minutes.

“Those who score more goals will come out victors, but it is not going to be an easy match for us,’’ Chidzambwa told our Harare Bureau.

Second placed Ngezi Platinum come to Bulawayo for an encounter with a not so safe Bulawayo City at Barbourfields Stadium in another match that will be beamed live on SuperSport on Saturday while Luveve Stadium will be a venue for mining sides when How Mine play host to Hwange. A seemingly resurrected Tsholotsho square up against Chapungu at Dulivhadzimo while Yadah FC and Black Rhinos complete the Saturday action.

Fixtures
Friday: Shabanie Mine v Chicken Inn (Maglas, SS).

Saturday: Bulawayo City v Ngezi Platinum (Barbourfields, SS), Tsholotsho v Chapungu (Dulivhadzimo), ZPC Kariba v Dynamos (Nyamhunga), Yadah v Black Rhinos (National Sports Stadium), Harare City v Bantu Rovers (Rufaro), How Mine v Hwange (Luveve).

Sunday: Caps United v Triangle (NSS), Highlanders v FC Platinum (Barbourfields, SS).