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From Chipo Sabeta in Zvishavane
IT’S another trip to East Africa and FC Platinum coach Norman Mapeza admits that his charges need to pull up their socks.
The platinum miners progressed to the next round of the Orange Caf Confederation Cup on a 4-2 aggregate after beating Sofapaka of Kenya 2-1 home and   away.

They will clash with Young Africans of Tanzania in the next phase and Mapeza says the East African side is not a small team and he is expecting a tougher assignment.

“We are done with this round. Easy as it might be, but we had to fight on. We take each game as it comes and we will prepare adequately ahead of our next assignment.

“I know a little bit about Young Africans. They are not a small team and their participation in Caf matches sums it all. It’s a very tricky fixture and we’ve to believe in ourselves.

“We have to pull up our socks from what we’ve displayed so far. There is always room for improvement and that can only happen if we identify our mistakes and mend them,” Mapeza said.

FC Platinum went to sleep in the early minutes of the match, and the visitors scored an early goal causing the miners  anxious moments.
Mapeza criticised his charges for loss of concentration.

“Those are the most crucial moments of the game. The first minutes and the last minutes of each half determine the outcome of the game. I’ve always demanded maximum concentration in the first minutes and the dying minutes of each half.

“It’s one of the issues I have been hammering in their brains in the dressing room before we started and I’m disappointed that they went to sleep. It was a wake up call and we responded positively. Sometimes  we need such awakening,” he said.

In Saturday’s encounter, Mapeza trusted Munyaradzi Kunyarimwe ahead of Tatenda Dzumbunu in midfield but the former Harare City boy was guilty of a number of mistakes in the middle of the park.

Kunyarimwe was later replaced by Allen Gahadzikwa after the breather.

“I can’t single out any individual player but I will revise our weaknesses as a team. Tatenda was not in the team because he missed training a week ago. Bringing in Allan and Nathan Shoko was meant to stabilise the midfield.

“I call them ‘madhalas’. They controlled the midfield on their introduction and they served their purpose,” he said.

Wisdom Mutasa could have capped a hat-trick   for FC Platinum on Saturday had he not wasted chances.

He cancelled Sofapaka’s lead when he thrust home a beauty, leaving visiting goalkeeper, Evariste Mututumana for dead.
He had two clear efforts saved by Mututumana   in a the match he also scored the winner just after half time.

In the first leg, Mutasa assisted Brian Muzondiwa’s first goal in Nairobi.

“It’s not an easy game. It’s also great that I opened my scoring account. However, I could have done better.  I missed chances in the first half. There are times when I chose to pass when I was supposed to shoot,” said Mutasa.

Mapeza’s counterpart, Sam Timbe thinks FC Platinum were lucky to progress into the next round, the Ugandan national reiterating his claim after their 2-1 loss to the miners in the Orange CAF Confederation Cup in Nairobi two weeks ago.

He said they conceded soft goals.

Sofakapa dangerman Fiston Abdoul silenced Mandava Stadium when he netted a long-range beauty inside five minutes of the first half.
“It was going to be a different result today had my boys concentrated,” Timbe said.

“They are a good side but I think they are just not lucky. They survived in Nairobi and today, it was the same story.  In football, you need a bit of lucky.

“I think they (FC Platinum) are a lucky team and hopefully, it’ll take them throughout the tournament. They had chances and utilised them. It was different with us.

“We had no pressure from home fans, the media and we were playing our game.”