Antipas joins Chicken Inn

Sport
FORMER Motor Action coach Joey Antipas has joined Chicken Inn as head coach Mandla “Lulu” Mpofu threw in the towel on Sunday evening.

FORMER Motor Action coach Joey Antipas has joined Chicken Inn as head coach Mandla “Lulu” Mpofu threw in the towel on Sunday evening.

SUKOLUHLE Mthethwa Sports Reporter

Southern Eye Sport reported early last month that Antipas was being linked with a move to the Innscor-sponsored outfit.

Antipas confirmed yesterday afternoon that he is now with the Bulawayo side.

“I have joined Chicken Inn as the new head coach. It is a very big challenge because I have been based in Harare all along, but I hope I will pull it off. My first duty will be to instil confidence into the players because if they lose games on the trot it dampens their spirits,” he said.

Antipas said he wants players to start believing in themselves as Chicken Inn is a good side.

“I want players to believe that they can do it because Chicken Inn are a very good team. They have quality players and I would like to urge them to work very hard. As for the league race, I would say it would be very difficult for us to win the league because we have Highlanders, Dynamos and Harare City at the top. To be honest the chances are slim, but we just have to be optimistic,” he said.

Chicken Inn chairman Lifa Ncube said they were concluding the deal yesterday.

“Antipas is our new head coach. We are still trying to tie loose ends. We are meeting him this afternoon (yesterday),” he said.

Antipas won the championship with Motor Action in 2010 and also won the BancABC Sup8r Cup when they beat Highlanders 1-0 in the final played at Barboufields Stadium the following year.

However, things had not been rosy for Motor Action as the Eric Rosen-sponsored side was facing financial problems.

Antipas quit the Mighty Bulls in September following a spate of poor results.

At the time of his departure he was reported to have said he had resigned following the poor performance of the team as the results were not coming.

The Mighty Bulls were anchoring the league table with a paltry 14 points from 20 matches at the time of his departure.

He joins Chicken Inn who are on position six on the log table with 36 points from 25 games.

Despite winning the NetOne Charity Shield after beating Caps United 3-2 in Zvishavane, Chicken Inn were booted out of the Mbada Diamonds Cup after losing 1-2 to the Green Machine at Ascot Stadium.