Online Reporter
Alberto Chamwadoro
Zimpapers Sports Hub
JOEL Luphahla still cannot wrap his head around how FC Platinum ended up dropping points against MWOS in last Sunday’s league match at Mandava.
The game ended in a 2-2 draw.
Twice the Zvishavane platinum miners took the lead, and twice they allowed the resilient visitors to claw their way back. He is confident his men will come to the party in their Castle Lager Premier Soccer League clash against his former employers, Simba Bhora, at Wadzanai tomorrow.
“Obviously, you cannot ignore the poor result we had when we played at home.
“Because, for us, that is a loss — drawing at home in a match that we could have won with ease.
“We take that as a loss. The preparations, when you are coming from a disappointing result, are not so good like when you have won.
“But, it is our duty as a technical team to make sure that we psyche the players up. And, we are worried that we haven’t won away.
“Now we are going to Wadzanai and we are going to try again to make sure that we collect the full three points.” Luphahla said defensive lapses were costing his team. “There are errors that can suck the energy away from you. I think the mistake that we made towards the end of the first half did take a lot of energy from the players.
“We tried to claw back, and I think we scored a beautiful second goal but we are struggling to close shop. I think that’s my responsibility as a coach to make sure that we plug that gap because we are scoring. If you can score two goals, especially in this difficult 2026 season, you must be able to wrap up the full set of points.
“But we are scoring goals and we are also conceding, which I think is something that needs to be tied down as soon as possible.”
He added: “I’m hoping that the boys learned from the previous match that you need to be more professional and respect the badge of the club, respect the fans that are paying a lot of money to come and watch us. “This season, football is expensive — US$5 is a lot of money for an ordinary citizen. So we are expecting that their money should be worth the performance. “The previous game I felt that we did not respect our fans, the way we conceded, especially the first goal. We have spoken about that.
“These are our kids. You cannot punish your kids. At times they’ll make mistakes but there is a way that we correct that. Internally we have worked on it, we have corrected that, and I can assure people that they are going to see a different team.”
