ZVISHAVANE - Following a stuttering start to the 2014 Castle Premiership season, FC Platinum hope victory in the Independence Trophy final on Friday against Dynamos will kick-start their revival.
The super-rich Zvishavane side were expected to be one of the leading contenders to wrestle the title away from DeMbare but have failed to win their opening two matches of the new season.
Lloyd Mutasa’s men needed a last gasp equaliser to earn a 1-1 draw with league debutants Chiredzi FC two weeks ago.
Mutasa, a club legend at Dynamos where he featured as an attacking midfielder for several seasons, is under pressure to start delivering this season.
Last weekend, the platinum miners were 2-0 up at halftime against Hwange at Mandava Stadium before crumbling in the second half to lose 3-2.
Tomorrow, Kugona kunenge kudada take to the National Sports Stadium fknowing that victory over DeMbare will stop for the time being the alarm bells that are already ringing.
“The league is just starting and people should not use the performance in the first two games to judge us because the league is in its infancy,” Mutasa told the Daily News yesterday.
“We picked up late in the first game and in the second match we started well but went to sleep towards the end.
“So in this game against Dynamos we are going to work on the mistakes in the first two games. In fact this is a different game which has a different approach to the league games.
“We would want to win this match to atone for the loss that we had over the weekend. Obviously a win will go a long way in uplifting the morale of the players and boost the confidence of the youngsters who are coming through.”
Mutasa has generally done well as a coach when playing against his former club and usually comes up tops in most clashes against the Glamour Boys.
Platinum had never won a match against Dynamos since they were promoted into the top-flight in 2011 but that all changed when Mutasa arrived at the club last season.
Elvis Moyo and Charles Sibanda scored when the platinum miners recorded a famous 2-0 victory last October under Mutasa.
Mutasa will be hoping the new striking partnership of Njabulo Ncube and Tarisai Rukanda regains their pre-season form once again.
Rukanda and Ncube were outstanding in pre-season as they netted 13 goals in the warm-up matches the club played.
Ncube, who joined from Highlanders, scored eight goals while Rukanda, who crossed the floor from Shabanie Mine, scored five goals.
The duo is yet to find the back on the net in the league with the three FC Platinum goals so far coming from Thabani Kamusoko, Mitchell Katsvairo and Quadr Amin.
Tomorrow’s match also marks the first time defender Gift Bello comes face-to-face with his former paymasters after making the move to Zvishavane earlier this year.
Bello was one of the most consistent defender at Dynamos since joining the Glamour Boys in 2011 and was instrumental in their title wins in the last three years.
The Mbare-born defender’s switch to Zvishavane eked the club so much that chairman Kenny Mubaiwa labelled him a “traitor”.
Dynamos come into tomorrow's final after Sunday's disappointing 1-0 defeat at the hands of debutantes ZPC Kariba at the same venue.
The Harare giants desperately need to win the trophy to appease their demanding fans who expect the Glamour Boys to every trophy on offer.