Are Chicken Inn chickening out?




Rahman Gumbo
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ESTEEMED followers of the game of football, thank you for finding time for interaction.

Just what is happening at Chicken Inn?

The Gamecocks appear to have just become chicken-hearted at a momentous stage of the championship race and their chances of landing the title for the second time in three seasons is hanging by a thread. The 2015 champions are struggling for form and are without a win in their last four games leading to their clash against Harare City yesterday, a run of a draw and three successive losses.

As such coach, Rahman Gumbo  and his charges are dropping off the pace. Has the heat got too much in the kitchen that Chicken Inn are chickening out fearing a grilling?

Since losing 1-2 to newcomers, Yadah Stars last month, a reverse that snapped their nine-match unbeaten run, Chicken Inn have also lost leadership of the log standings, are tumbling and have dropped to fourth. Already out of the Chibuku Super Cup following their expulsion after they walked off the pitch in protest over a late penalty awarded to Yadah Stars in the first round tie, they were fined $2 000 for the offence. That trouble also attracted banishment from participating in next season’s edition of the same competition.

At the turn of the second half of the season, an encouraging streak of positive results promised a fruitful conclusion to the campaign, but on current evidence that all looks like drifting into a distant dream. Forced into a fire-fighting mood, Gumbo is, however, putting up a brave face. “We are on a rough patch, but we are not yet out. We are still in the race with a realistic chance of winning; there are still games to play and anything can happen . . . we will keep fighting,” he told our sister publication The Herald last Friday after his team was held to a one-all stalemate by Shabanie Mine at Maglas.

So, can Chicken Inn pick up the pieces and summon the experience of such seasoned players in their ranks as Clement Matawu, Chris Samakweri, Obadiah Tarumbwa, Passmore Benard and Darryl Nyandoro to bring their campaign back on the rails?

Will they stem the slide and salvage something out of what remains the rest of this season with only six rounds of matches to go?

It’s Game On, Play On!