ZVISHAVANE – FC Platinum turned on the power in a space of 60 seconds to overturn an early Kastigu Juwakinyu strike to beat Buffaloes 2-1 in Castle Premiership match at Mandava Stadium yesterday.
Wisdom Mutasa and Donald Ngoma scored in the 35th and 36th minutes respectively to cancel Juwakinyu’s 17th minute strike.
The platinum miners, who are enjoying a new lease of live under new coach Norman Mapeza, started the match offensively as they threatened to overrun their opponents in the early stages of the match.
Buffaloes were able to absorb the early pressure from the hosts before attack with pace on the break.
The tactic worked to perfection when the visitors turned over possession through Marshal Machazane, who released the speedy Juwakinyu.
It was a devastating counter attack and the former Black Rhinos striker shot past Platinum keeper Petros Mhari to give the visitors the lead.
Mhari, who has been bestowed with the captaincy following the arrival of Mapeza, was a busy man in those opening meetings as he denied Juwakinyu twice from point blank range.
The home side was looking dangerous down the right flank where Walter Musona was combining well with Raphael Muduviwa.
It was no surprise when Musona picked up Mutasa was a wonderful assist allowing the midfielder to curl in a wonderful shot past Buffaloes goalie Itayi Chiwara.
Straight from the restart, Muduviwa won possession before sending in a pin-point cross that was tapped in by Ngoma t give the visitors the lead.
It was a quick turn around by the hosts and from there on they continued to dominate the match.
In the second period, Ashley Mukwenya came close to increasing the lead when his shot hit the crossbar.
After the match, the home side’s assistant coach Patrick Mandizha attributed the win to their players quickly adapting to Mapeza’s methods.
“The modern trends of football need a lot of running thus the thrust on playing younger players at the expense of seasoned players,” he said.
“The youngsters are doing well and this gives competition in the team. We will continue improving as a team,”
Buffaloes assistant coach Timothy Masachi said: “We played well but we lacked concentration allowing them to score those two goals. We could also have utilised the two chances we got after the opener and we could have wrapped the match.” Daily News