adminBlessing Malinganiza
NORMAN Mapeza wants a strong response from his men when the champions host Bulawayo Chiefs in a Castle Lager Premiership match at Mandava this afternoon.
It’s a repeat of the Castle Lager Challenge Cup, which the hosts won 2-0 at the same venue.
FC Platinum were handed a 1-2 defeat by Highlanders in their last league match at Barbourfields at the weekend.
Now, they have to deal with another club from the City of Kings.
“Our preparations are going well, so far, I can’t complain,” said Mapeza.
“It’s always difficult coming from a loss, what is important for us is to stay focused, remain united as we usually do, see what happens come tomorrow (today).
“We’ve got a very difficult game against Chiefs, everyone knows about that but it’s all about us now because we are coming from a defeat.
“But, so far so good, I can’t complain.”
He added: “The guys played well (against Bosso), we had some good opportunities but we couldn’t utilise the chances we created.
“We had some very good opportunities to win the game or, maybe, get away with a point, but it didn’t happen.
“At the end of the day, we just have to rectify those mistakes, I think we didn’t defend well, I think we could have done better.
“I think we’ve addressed that now, everybody knows what we need to do.”
He said the best teams are known by the way they respond. It’s always difficult when you go down, what is important is for you to get up, that’s what is important. I can’t complain about tiredness, we had enough time to rest.
“All over the world, when you are playing at home, you need to maximise on our home advantage, so that’s exactly what we need to do.”
Midfielder Juan Mutudza has two goals this season. Gift Mbwetu limped off in their last game. “Gift is okay, we gave him about two days to rest, the physiotherapists are attending to him.
“Kelvin Mangiza is down with flu, so he is definitely out. But, the rest of the squad is okay.”
Online Reporter