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Sikhumbuzo Moyo Senior Sports Reporter
WILL gold miners How Mine have another chicken lunch when they face Chicken Inn in a Bulawayo derby at Hartsfield Grounds this afternoon?
That’s the big question ahead of the second derby at the same venue in as many weeks. The Gamecocks met and beat fellow Bulawayo side Bantu Rovers 2-1 last Saturday and will naturally be psyched up for another triumph over fellow city dwellers.
Coach Joe Antipas knows very well that today’s clash is a completely different ball game altogether as How Mine have seasoned and battle hardened players who have been involved in some of the most bruising battles on the local and international front.

The first leg ended 2-1 in favour of How Mine so Chicken Inn will also be gunning for revenge with their star midfielder Danny Phiri saying talk in the dressing room has been centred on revenge.

It’s not going to be an easy match for both sides by any standards with How Mine coach Luke Masomere, never short of surprises, saying relegation has never been part of their vocabulary but instead they were concentrating on something totally different from what everyone was thinking.

“We are concentrating on something totally different from that (relegation) and we have high hopes ahead of our next challenge. Relegation has never been in question,” he told our sister paper H-Metro.

Masomere will bank on the services of skipper Gilbert Banda who has really been a pillar of strength in the How Mine dressing room with his confidence boosting presence.

Other experienced players in the How Mine camp include Brighton Dube, former DeMbare defender George Magariro, midfield star Mernard Mupera and forward Kuda Musharu who is the second leading goalscorer with 10 goals, two shy of Highlanders’ Charles Sibanda. Antipas’s hopes will be on Phiri, veteran forward Mkhokheli Dube, Tendai Goredema, Brian Mbiriri, Ishmael Lawe as well as pint sized midfielder Clemence Matawu.

Five points separate the two teams, Chicken Inn sitting on position six with 33 points while the gold miners are 11th with 28 points, a point ahead of the drop zone.