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Tendai Chikuni

Mukudzei Chingwere in GWERU
AIRFORCE of Zimbabwe side Chapungu have pledged to uphold the ethos of Fair Play when they host league championship favourites FC Platinum in the final game of the season this coming weekend. The Gweru airmen said they don’t owe the miners anything and will not do them a favour. A share of spoils for FC Platinum could be detrimental if Dynamos manage to get maximum points in their last match against Chicken Inn in Harare.

FC Platinum appear to have exorcised the ghost of crumbling under the weight of expectations in final matches of the season. On Saturday they came from behind to collect maximum points in a blockbuster duel against Ngezi Platinum. After the final whistle on Saturday, wild celebrations engulfed Mandava with Norman Mapeza’s backroom staff celebrating this come-from-behind victory like they had won the title.

Former FC Platinum coach Tendai Chikuni is now in charge of Chapungu and has pledged to fight for the cause of the Airforce side and not his former employers. “We do not owe FC Platinum anything but we owe ourselves three points,’’ he said. “We have our own objectives of finishing in the top eight and we will fight till the end to be among the top eight teams.

“Now I am at Chapungu and whatever I will do it is in the best interest of Chapungu, not my former employers. If they get a result against us it will be on merit. But what I want to promise all the football stakeholders is that it will not be an easy game for either side. We want to finish the season on a high and in front of our fans. Our fans need to give us support and I can promise we will not disappoint them.

“We have been playing well of late and we want to finish with that momentum so we build from there next season. That some people say we have nothing to fight for is wrong we are still fighting to end positively.’’ Neutrals might be tempted to believe that Chapungu will make it difficult for FC Platinum, they made it very hard for other title-chasers in the later stages of the season when they shared spoils against the duo of Ngezi Platinum and Chicken Inn in Week 29 and 33.

They also fought hard when they lost 1-0 away to Dynamos in Week 31. Last year Ascot rolled out the red carpet for CAPS United when they were crowned champions with a narrow 1-0 win over Chapungu. FC Platinum will be hoping to collect maximum points and also be crowned champions in Gweru.