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Eddie Chikamhi Sports Reporter
CHICKEN INN coach Joey Antipas fears the momentum his side had gathered in the home stretch could be disturbed by the impending break. The Premier Soccer League announced yesterday that matches will be suspended because of national team commitments. The Gamecocks have five players in the Warriors squad that is preparing for the first leg of the CHAN third round qualifiers against Lesotho set for Barbourfields this Sunday.

The league’s competitions manager, Elisha Mandireva, yesterday said that matches have been shelved this week and will resume next weekend. “The league will resume next week when the Warriors will be playing away. But those teams with three or more players on national team duty may have to defer their games to the mid-week,” said Mandireva.

Chicken Inn are likely to have three players in the team after their captain Danny Phiri, who is also the skipper for this home-based Warriors’ side, Tafadzwa Kutinyu, Lawrence Mhlanga, Edmore Chirambadare and goalkeeper Elvis Chipezeze were included in the 23-member squad.  Chicken Inn are set to host FC Platinum in their next assignment which has a huge bearing on the destiny of championship race.

“The good thing is that this break is not affecting us alone. But the bottom line is we have to be psychologically prepared,” said Antipas.  “We are on the threshold of achieving something big and we wouldn’t want to let it slip through our fingers. “I call our next game against FC Platinum a six-pointer. It is a very crucial game and we have to be calm.

“These guys are doing things correctly. I salute the guys for their resilience because they showed great fighting spirit after we had conceded an early goal against How Mine. “People are saying it’s now between us and FC Platinum but you can never rule Dynamos out of the championship race, especially when things are still like this. There are five games to be played.

“It’s still a long way to go. We still have some big games ahead of us.” FC Platinum coach Norman Mapeza believes the platinum miners need to maintain their focus in the remaining games.  The platinum miners started the season slowly but have since picked up their tempo. “At this stage of the season you need to aim for positive results more than anything else. So we will be going to Chicken Inn to play for a positive result, just as we have been doing all along,” said Mapeza.

“We don’t have to put ourselves under a lot of unnecessary pressure. “Instead we have to keep our feet on the ground. We need to continue working hard. “To me it’s still game on because if you look at a team like Dynamos they are not dead and buried yet. “I believe they are also still in it. There are still 15 points to play for and anything can happen in football.”