Agama . . . . . . . . . . . . 0
FC Platinum . . . . . . . . 0
It's just 10 matches into the new season, but the Pure Platinum Play may have already lost its luster.
Yesterday at Wadzanayi Stadium, the once-invincible FC Platinum looked like a shadow of their former selves, huffing and puffing to a stale goalless draw against a winless, relegation-threatened Agama.
For coach Joel Luphahla, the walls are beginning to close in.
This stalemate stretches his side's winless streak to four matches, a crisis by the high standards of the Zvishavane team.
Coming off a bruised ego following a 3-0 thrashing by Simba Bhora at this same venue last week, FC Platinum needed to recover.
They were expected to feast on an Agama side that had yet to taste victory this season.
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Instead, they served up an average performance rather than the clinical precision that brought them four consecutive league titles in the past.
The statistics make for grim reading for the Fc Platinum supporters.
Since April 4, when they beat Bulawayo Chiefs, the platinum mine has run dry.
Their only other victim this season was basement dwellers Manica Diamonds.
Luphahla admited the weight of the slump is taking its toll.
"Four games now we haven't won, which puts a lot of pressure on the players, on ourselves [the technical team] also and on our fans," Luphahla conceded.
He praised the traveling supporters but admitted the team is failing them.
"I feel that the supporters have been magnificent especially in our away games but we are still failing to give them what they deserve, but at the end of the day, its a point that we have taken away,”Luphahla said.
“ It was a difficult game. We are struggling to win away but we created three or four chances in the first half that i feel we should have scored. We also had half chances in the second half.
“I felt the boys were rushing things today. When you are coming from a three-nil loss, players are eager to get that goal so in the end we were too desperate to get the goal but the play and the idea, you can see what we are trying to do. We need to make sure that we continue pushing."
While the mood was somber in the Fc Platinum camp, Agama coach Takaendesa Jongwe walked away with a sense of quiet triumph.
For the first time this season, his defense did not concede a goal.
"One big positive thing is we didn't concede. This is our first clean sheet this season," Jongwe said.
"But at the same time we were not as creative as we have been of late. So maybe we put a lot of emphasis on defending because today, yes, it could have gone either way but I am of the opinion that we didn’t create enough as we have been doing of late."
Despite being stuck in the bottom three, Agama are proving to be the league's newest giant killers in-waiting, having now snatched draws from Dynamos, Simba Bhora, Ngezi Platinum Stars, and now the Zvishavane side - all former league champions.
The match began with Agama showing surprising bravado, moving the ball with crisp, short passing that left the visitors chasing shadows. However, when FC Platinum finally found their rhythm, they should have buried the game before the halftime oranges.
Agama keeper Wilson Brown was the man of the hour, denying both Abram Tjahikika and Trevor Bhunu in point-blank, one-on-one situations.
At the other end, Tinashe Balakasi nearly wrote the headlines with a clever backheel that set up Gray Kufandada, whose shot missed the target by a whisker.
FC Platinum dominated the ball after the break but lacked the killer instincts.
It was actually Agama who came closest to scoring when Balakasi flashed a header just wide during a lightning-fast counter-attack.
The point leaves FC Platinum languishing in 12th place with a meager 12 points while Agama remains 16th, hovering dangerously above the basement with four points.
They, however, could drop to the basement if the bottom two sides TelOne and Manica Diamonds win their respective matches today.
The clock is now ticking for Luphahla.
Next week, Scottland arrives at Mandava Stadium, and for a coach already feeling the heat, a clash against the champions feels less like a game and more like a final judgment.
If he cannot find a way to turn ideas into goals, the Fc Platinum board might soon find someone who can.
Teams
Agama: W Brown, N Philiso, T Daka, C Petros, L Marunga, R Kumi (M Simemeza, 60'), L Chavinda, B Chipanera, E Nyamupurika, G Kufandada, T Balakasi (E Chambara, 77').
FC Platinum: R Pitisi, N Nyasulu, M Paipi, T Bhunu (T Ndlovu, 88'), T Vareta, D Mhindirira (O Bhebhe, 68'), H Magaya, G Dematsika, D Mangesi, A Tjahikika (T Ruzive, 68'), W Muvirimi.
