Devine boost . . . Chicken Inn leftback recovers from injury Joey Antipas

Ricky Zililo Senior Sports Reporter
CHICKEN Inn leftback Devine Lunga has made a remarkable recovery and returned to training four weeks earlier than expected following a knee operation in July.

The 20-year-old defender twisted a knee ligament in his senior national team debut’s 2-0 win over Comoros in an African Nations Championship encounter at Rufaro Stadium in June.

Warriors’ coach Callisto Pasuwa threw in Lunga as a direct replacement for Ronald Pfumbidzai, who had just signed for Swedish club Hobro IK. The Chan tournament is for locally-based players.

The Gamecocks’ rising star twisted his knee while unmarked as he attempted to block a corner. X-rays showed that Lunga had two cracks on his knee and Chicken Inn reportedly paid $2,400 for the player’s operation.

Joey Antipas, Chicken Inn’s coach, is amazed at Lunga’s speedy recovery.

“Devine is back at work and he is saying he is not feeling any pain. He has been running, going to the gym for some time and will start doing light-ball work next week. I believe being a youngster led to his speedy recovery because initially there were fears that he might recover at the end of the season,” said Antipas.

In Lunga’s absence, Brian Mbiriri, who had lost his regular starting place for the better part of the first half of the season, easily settled into that role.

Antipas said Lunga will provide his title chasing Chicken Inn another dimension as they brace for the crucial nine remaining league games.

The Gamecocks are in contention for a league and cup double as they top the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League standings and are in the quarter-finals of the Chibuku Super Cup.

Chicken Inn are on 43 points, four ahead of defending champions Dynamos, and cannot afford to drop points at this stage of the season.

Chicken Inn’s next league encounter will be at home against relegation threatened ZPC Kariba after the international break.

Antipas’ charges are still basking in glory after grabbing a late 3-2 derby win against Highlanders.

“I like the fighting spirit that the guys are showing me. The fact that even when it appeared we were headed for a draw they never lost hope and were eventually rewarded with a late goal which kept our lead on the table the same.

“I’m happy the guys have taken heed of my message that the championship race is not for the faint-hearted and requires real character, typical to the one they showed against Highlanders. Every league game we play now is like a cup final and that’s how we will be approaching the remaining matches,” he said.

Chicken Inn yesterday gave its players a break and will resume training on Monday.

They have five players, Danny “Deco” Phiri, goalkeeper Elvis Chipezeze, Edmore Chirambadare, Lawrence Mhlanga and Raphael Kutinyu in the Warriors and Under-23 teams competing in the Afcon qualifiers and African Games respectively.

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