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Paul Mundandi in ZVISHAVANE
FC Platinum assistant coach Patrick Mandizha is optimistic their poor performance on the road will end this afternoon when they visit Nyamhunga for a tricky Premiership tie against ZPC Kariba.

It will be the first Premiership league match in the resort town, known largely as a tourist destination.

The platinum miners are in high spirits following last week’s 3-2 win against Triangle.

“We need to continue from where we left in our last game against Triangle. Our confidence is back.

“It is high time we start picking points away from home,” said Mandizha.

“To some extent our performance has been affected by our travelling.

“We have little time to recover and we are travelling to Kariba this weekend.

“It’s unfortunate that in Zimbabwe you can’t fly out and fly in for games but we have to deal with what is there.

“We are going towards the end of the first round and we need to keep in touch with the leading pack.

“We have been struggling since the beginning of the season but that doesn’t mean we were playing badly but it’s just that we were not very sharp upfront.”

Elvis Moyo, Wisdom Mutasa and the Zambian duo of Obrey Chirwa and Aaron Katebe will miss the match this afternoon.

Chirwa pulled a muscle while left-back Moyo is injured.

Katebe is with the Zambian national team in South Africa for the COSAFA Cup.

Mutasa will be donning the national team colours as he will be captaining the Under-23 team against Swaziland tomorrow.

Midfielder Emmanuel Mandiranga is also with the Young Warriors.

“We have good replacements as other player can easily fill the void.

“We are also looking at a situation where those selected to play will give 120 percent for the institution,” said Mandizha.

“They have not been playing their home matches there and it’s going to be a 50-50 situation.

“It is going to be to our advantage because they will be under pressure to deliver in front of their home fans.

“We have been winning there during our pre-season over the years and I hope it will be the same again tomorrow (today).

“The race is still wide open.”

Mandizha is one of the trusted lieutenants selected by coach Norman Mapeza and is one person who has stood with the coach in good and bad times.

The team showed a lot of character in their last training session at Mandava on Thursday.