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Ray Bande in MUTARE
Manica Diamonds 0-0 FC Platinum

A GOALLESS stalemate was the fairest result for this dull Castle Lager Premiership football encounter played on a waterlogged Sakubva in Mutare yesterday.

The match failed to live up to its billing mainly because of the state of the pitch. The eastern border city received a heavy downpour on Saturday night and the greater part of the morning yesterday which left the Mutare football match venue, given its poor drainage system, with puddles of water all over the pitch.

The attendance of fans was also greatly affected as the swelling numbers of supporters during Manica Diamonds’ home matches at Sakubva in recent weeks was a bit subdued yesterday owing to the heavy rains.

The visitors FC Platinum were the better side of the two and the Zvishavane platinum miners could have scored at least two goals in the first half but the waterlogged pitch was not fit for a fine passing game as the ball often remained stagnant in pools of mud.

Not even efforts to resort to some long range shots in search of a goal could yield results for both teams as they both either lacked precision or found the two experienced goalkeepers, Ashley Reyners for Manica Diamonds and Petros Mhari for FC Platinum, alert.

In fact, FC Platinum were just unlucky not to have taken the lead two minutes into the second half when Donald Teguru’s screamer hit the crossbar with Reyners already a well beaten man.

No wonder FC Platinum coach Norman Mapeza praised his team for adapting to the state of the pitch.  “I was happy with how my players applied themselves. They did everything they could and I actually felt for them because the state of the pitch was not conducive for our style of play,” he said.

The former Warriors star midfielder said the result was better and encouraging. His opposite number, Johanisi Nhumwa, also blamed the state of the pitch for his team’s failure to get a goal.

“We played well as a team and it is only that the state of the pitch denied us goals. You saw how our strikers were falling down because of the slippery pitch.

We could have won it with a bit of luck but somehow the draw was fair. We will continue fighting on and hope that we are going to get good results going forward,” he said.

Although Nhumwa was diplomatic in his response, he was far from being happy about Harare referee Lawrence Zimondi’s performance.

Neutrals could easily understand Nhumwa given the highly questionable decisions that Zimondi made during the encounter, including ending the match in the 87th minute when the hosts were now all over their opponents.