MUTARE- Fans of army side Buffaloes left Mutare’s ceremonial home of football with long faces as their team was ruthlessly dispatched by money bags FC Platinum in premier soccer league match at Sakubva Stadium.
A clinical display by FC Platinum striker Brian Muzondiwa whose hatrick ensured prodigal coach Saul Chaminuka reign remains in doubt as another heavy defeat hampers any progress made by the army side.
Buffaloes were virtually outplayed in every department, with the defense most culpable in a horrid first half display, as they left an unmarked Muzondiwa to nod home in the opener on 28 minutes.
Despite having been warned of imminent danger the defence continued in their lethargic fashion and Muzondiwa snatched the ball from Joseph Jambo’s feet before running on goal to poke past a sprawling goalie.
The match was put beyond the army side when Muzondiwa completed his hatrick with aplomb a few minutes before half time, this time when he received the ball he sent the static defense on a merry go round.
First he roasted Jambo inside out and made easy work of his defensive partner and calmly slotted past the onrushing goalkeeper, well outside his area, into an empty net to break the hearts of pockets of Watungwa Watungwa faithfuls.
Buffaloes are seriously courting relegation as the army side seems to have lost its way despite the return of Coach of the year Chaminuka, whose flirtation with ZPC Kariba came to a premature end early this year.
However Chaminuka has found the going tough this time around as he has failed to ignite the home resilience which has become the trademark of Buffaloes over the years.
At the end of the match assistant coach Joseph Takaringofa tried to deflect attention from the horrible defensive display blaming the performance on the prolonged soccer break of the league.
However well placed sources have claimed that there is low morale as some of the players, whore are on the Zimbabwe National Army payroll, failed to get their salaries on time. To further exacerbate this, players have not been getting winning bonuses as the team currently has no sponsor.
“This is just a clear case of low morale in the camp. We don’t have a sponsor at the moment so the boys are not motivated to win because if they do, they won’t get any winning bonus.
“Also some of the boys did not get their salaries on time,” said the well placed source.
