Joey Antipas was left fuming after Chicken Inn stumbled and failed to close in on second-placed Ngezi Platinum Stars following a 1-0 defeat at home against ZPC Kariba.

The Gamecocks could have cut the gap to just four points, but Tawanda Nyamandwe who has scored in all ZPC’s outings in Bulawayo scored a 29th-minute goal to stop their opponents’ eight-match unbeaten run.

“The attitude of the players was very bad ahead of the match. After going for eight matches without a defeat, the players start picking up a wrong mentality,” said Antipas.

The coach also rued the absence of some influential players in the team that lost on Sunday.

“We were missing some of our key players due to suspension and injuries. The likes of Moses Jackson, Clement Matawu and Moses Majika did not play, and the youngsters we brought in failed to rise to be counted.”

Chicken Inn went into the match on the backdrop of a thrilling 3-2 win past Highlanders in the midweek.