adminDingilizwe Ntuli Sports Editor
AFTER a loud run this week in which he attacked FC Platinum’s brand of football and journalists from one publication, Highlanders coach Bongani Mafu ate humble pie when his charges lost at home yesterday.
He criticised FC Platinum’s game as pathetic and described the journalists as “mere paper vendors.”
Perhaps buoyed by his team’s emphatic 5-1 demolition of city rivals How Mine last Sunday, Mafu launched a strange stinging rant at FC Platinum dismissing their tactics as appalling, but failed to back up all the big talk yesterday as the Zvishavane-based outfit responded on the pitch with a convincing performance to silence the loud-mouthed coach.
And FC Platinum coach Norman Mapeza, who had chosen to retain his dignity than engaging in a verbal spar with Mafu in the build-up to the game, had some wise words for the Bosso coach.
“It was disrespectful of him to speak about another team like that, if he indeed said it. I want to advise him to talk carefully in future,” said Mapeza.
The issue wasn’t really that Bosso had lost, but it was their disjointed performance that worryingly displayed plenty of the failings that have sadly been on show for the best part of the season.
The hunger just wasn’t quite there and that was the most disappointing thing, especially for a team that had run riot over How Mine four days earlier.
FC Platinum dictated terms and defended with unshakeable resolve despite conceding and early goal.
Bosso’s second half performance was particularly woeful, with only Knox Mutizwa showing hunger for success.
Without taking anything away from FC Platinum, this was Bosso at their worst, playing below itself. This was a team amateurishly porous at the back and betraying the talent it undoubtedly possesses.
Online Reporter