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Norman Mapeza

FC Platinum coach Norman Mapeza has heaped praises on Brian Muzondiwa after the striker grabbed a hat-trick that ensured the miners bagged maximum points away at Buffaloes on Sunday. Mapeza said he has always had belief in the former Black Rhinos forward who appears to have taken long to settle in the Zvishavane side, despite showing so much promise when he moved to the ambitious side.

“Of course he struggled in the first games but I think now he is enjoying his game,” said Mapeza.

“The thing is he took long to adapt and I think he now understands what we want as a club and what our philosophy is.

“He is doing well and recently he was on target again which shows he is really coming up.

“But I believe he needs to keep his feet on the ground. He has the potential to go places but as a player you would need to continue working hard,” said Mapeza.

Muzondiwa opened his account on Sunday when he took advantage of ball watching defenders, about 28 minutes into the match, and headed home from close range from a cross by Tatenda Dzumbunu.

He was back to terrorise the home team’s defence four minutes later when he snatched the ball from Buffaloes defender Joseph Jambo’s feet, charged towards goal and toe-poked the ball over sprawling goalkeeper for his second goal of the day.

Muzondiwa completed a hat-trick at just a minute before the break when he easily dribbled past the Buffaloes centre-backs Jambo and Philip Chandisaita before he went past jittery goalkeeper.

FC Platinum moved into fifth place with the win with 28 points. They are now four points shy of the leaders Triangle who beat ZPC Kariba 2-1 to reclaim top position. — Sportszone.