BULWAYO - Chicken Inn posted an easy victory over relegated Quelaton to bolster their chances of a top three finish in the Castle Premiership yesterday.

The Gamecocks scored through double scorer Tendai Mukambi and Kudakwashe Mahachi to take their points tally to 50.

They now lead fourth-placed Monomotapa by three points after Monoz fell to Dynamos in Harare.

The two teams went into the weekend tied on 47 points.

Chicken Inn head coach Adam Ndlovu said finishing in third position would be a nice bonus for his charges as they had set their sights a bit lower.

“It would be a bonus if we were to go on to finish in third place because our goal was to finish in the top eight,” Ndlovu said.

“I am happy that we collected three points today but I believe that we could have scored a lot more goals than we did had we been more accurate in front of goal.”

Mukambi could have opened the scoring as early as the fourth minute but hit the post with his first effort after being sent through by a flick on from his strike partner Thomas Chimenya.

The follow-up play saw Mukambi being set up by Thabani Goredema for a second bite of the cherry but the striker’s weak effort was easily collected by Quelaton keeper Freedom Magaba.

Mukambi finally managed to beat Magaba on 13 minutes after latching on to a long clearance by Guide Goddard and shrugged off a token challenge from a Quelaton defender to slot home.

The lanky forward grabbed his brace on 26 minutes when he finished off a cross from the right flank by the hard working Goredema.

Sensing trouble, the home side’s technical department brought in Sikhumbulani Dube for Peace Tshuma in a bid to beef up their shaky central defence on 32 minutes.

This defensive change did not help matters as Young Warriors linkman Kudakwashe Mahachi added his name to the score sheet three minutes after the half time break.

The exciting left winger picked up a loose ball just outside the Quelaton penalty box and raced towards goal to drill past Magaba for Chicken Inn’s third and final goal.

Chicken Inn’s victory was spoilt by the dismissal of second half substitute Tendai Ndoro for a second bookable offence with three minutes remaining on the clock.

Ndoro had replaced Makhosi Ncube on 60 minutes.

After the match, Quelaton head coach Farai Sibanda blamed shoddy preparations for his team’s performance.

“We did not train properly and it showed in the way we played,” Sibanda said. “Our central defence was porous in the early stages and we had to make a change to rectify the situation but the damage had already been done.” - Sakheleni Nxumalo