BLACK RHINOS. . . .(0) 0
FC PLATINUM . . . . (1) 1
CHAMPIONS FC Platinum appear to have turned a corner after they bagged their second consecutive win, which saw them pull their title defence back on track against struggling Black Rhinos at the National Sports Stadium in Harare yesterday.
A Walter Musona first half goal was enough to earn them their second away win since the opening day of the season and also lift the team into second place, tied on points with leaders Highlanders.
Until last week’s 1–0 home win over ZPC Kariba, the platinum miners had gone for five matches without a win and they had already conceded 11 goals in the first nine matches.
This was an important win for coach Norman Mapeza and his charges.
“It’s a massive result for us, the guys worked so hard for it. Like I said last week we are still in the woods and slowly we are trying to crawl out. I still feel that there were moments when we did really well looking at the opportunities we created today,” Mapeza said after the match.
Musona broke the deadlock with a simple tap-in after some good work on the left by Perfect Chikwende in the 34th minute.
The reigning Soccer Star of the year made amends for a glorious opportunity that he missed early in the match with just the goalkeeper Panashe Chirimanyemba to beat.
Moments later Innocent Mucheneka blazed over from the edge of the six yard box after another lovely drawback from man-of-the-match Chikwende.
Wallace Magalane was alert to thwart Tatenda Mchisa after he was sent through by the impressive veteran Allan Gahadzikwa on the stroke of half time.
The defending champions dominated the exchanges from the first whistle, missing a glut of chances and taking a slender lead to the break.
They continued to create goal-scoring chances in the second half, but failed to take them notably Panashe Mutimbanyoka on the hour mark, dragging his shot wide with the keeper to beat.
Late in the game Mucheneka skipped past a couple of tackles and flashed his effort past the upright post
Rhinos tried to push for an equaliser with Gahadzikwa pulling the strings in midfield but the FC Platinum defence stood firm.
The hosts' coach Saul Chaminuka was disappointed by the result.
“The result is bad looking at where we are and how we have been playing. We need to start winning. We tried going up and created a few opportunities but we had one we could have taken and equalised. But it’s a game of football,” he said.
Teams
Black Rhinos: P Chirimanyemba, V Katsande, T Mchisa, P Mlanzi, D Mbewe, C Nyakope, G Saunyama, A Gahadzikwa, M Mahodobi, N Mwasanga (Migos Svinurai 32'), G Dematsika
FC Platinum
W Magalane, G Mbweti, R Pavari, N Chinyerere, K Mangiza, H Magaya, J Mutudza( B Banda 87'), I Mucheneka, P Mutimbanyoka (T Ngwenya 71'), W Musona, P Chikwende