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Ricky Zililo, Senior Sports Reporter
CROWNING of the 2021/22 Castle Lager Premier Soccer League champions FC Platinum will be done on Saturday when they host Cranborne Bullets at Mandava Stadium.
The army side will provide a guard of honour to the champions in what will be the final fixture for the two teams for this season.
Coached by Norman Mapeza, FC Platinum won their consecutive league title in style, doing so with at least three games before the season ended.
It is Mapeza’s third championship with Pure Platinum Play, his fourth domestic crown after winning the title with the now defunct Monomotapa United in 2008. Lizwe Sweswe was in charge when FC Platinum won their third championship in a row in 2019 after Mapeza quit towards the end of that season.
The Zvishavane-based side, which made its debut in the Premiership in 2011 has been a force to reckon with, first winning the championship in 2017, successfully defending it the following season and going on to permanently keep the cup in 2019.
Due to Covid-19 pandemic, there were no league matches in 2020.
Key to note is that since the league moved to 18 teams from 16 at the start of 2017, the platinum miners have dominated in the four seasons.
FC Platinum won the 2017 title with 72 points, two ahead of Dynamos. They successfully defended their title the following season with a massive 78 points, in a year that Ngezi Platinum Stars finished second on 65 points. In 2019, they were three points clear of runners-up Chicken Inn as they won the championship with 62 points.
This time around, FC Platinum are 12 points clear of second placed Chicken Inn. The champions are on 72 points heading to the last game of the season against Cranborne Bullets who are 12th on the table with 38 points.
Completing a double over Cranborne Bullets who they edged 1-0 in the first leg will take FC Platinum’s tally to 75 points.
FC Platinum are expected to wrap their campaign with a victory against Cranborne Bullets who are already safe from relegation.
A win for FC Platinum will see them stretching their unbeaten run to 21. FC Platinum whose last defeat was in April when they went down 1-0 away at Herentals have gone for an impressive unbeaten run of 20 games, winning 15 and playing to five draws.
It is the impressive run built from the Herentals defeat that powered FC Platinum to their fourth championship as Chicken Inn and Dynamos took turns to falter along the way, allowing the Mapeza-coached side which had set its sights on rebuilding, to gun for the title.
With central midfielder Brian Banda who had a magnificent season for the platinum miners out with a thigh injury, FC Platinum will pin their hopes on goalkeeper Wallace Magalane who has kept 15 clean sheets since taking over from Petros Mhari after the Herentals defeat.
Skipper Gift Bello, central defender Lawrence Mhlanga, forward Walter Musona with 13 goals, young striker Thandolwenkosi Ngwenya and Panashe Mutimbanyoka are some of the players expected to carry the day for FC Platinum as they seek to end the season in style.
PSL match day 34 fixtures
Saturday, November 12: ZPC Kariba v Herentals (Nyamhunga), Black Rhinos v Bulawayo City (Vengere), Ngezi Platinum Stars v Whawha (Baobab), Chicken Inn v Triangle United (Luveve), FC Platinum v Cranborne Bullets (Mandava), Harare City v Highlanders (National Sports Stadium)
Sunday, November 13: Tenax v Manica Diamonds (Sakubva), Bulawayo Chiefs v Yadah (Luveve), Dynamos v Caps United (National Sports Stadium). — @ZililoR
Online Reporter