BULAWAYO - FC Platinum registered their first victory in Bulawayo since gaining promotion into the first tier last season with an easy win over Quelaton in a one-sided Castle Premiership encounter yesterday.

Basement side Quelaton were so lacklustre in their approach to the game and could have lost by a bigger margin had it not been for the heroics of goalkeeper Tapiwa Marime.

The former Hardbody goalkeeper made some top drawer saves in the first half to keep the score-line respectable as his defence failed to deal with the Platinum strike force.

Benjamin Marere’s runs off the ball troubled the Quelaton central defence pairing of Zibusiso Sibanda and Sikhumbulani Dube and it was from one such run that the visitors opened their account on 13 minutes through Allen Gahadzikwa.

An off-the-ball run saw Marere receiving the ball wide on the right flank and the former Dynamos man beat Dube before advancing into the box and squaring for an unmarked Gahadzikwa, who had the easiest tasks of tapping the ball home.

The script could have been different though had Quelaton midfielder Timothy January not wasted a golden opportunity to send his side ahead on 11 minutes.

A clever switch of play by the stylish Mpumelelo Moyo found January in a good position outside the visitors’ penalty box and the pint-sized linkman beat FC Platinum skipper Daniel Veremu to come face to face with Francis Tizai only to balloon his effort way over the bar.

Marime then produced a string of saves to deny William Manondo in quick succession towards the half-hour mark to keep Quelaton in the game.

Manondo finally managed to beat Marime on 33 minutes when he finished off a move that involved Ali Sadiki and Gahadzikwa.

At this stage the visitors were all over Quelaton who had no answer to their passing game and this saw Marime being exposed to some target practice from the FC Platinum attackers.

Things got worse for the home side after half time when Dube brought down Manondo in the box on 49 minutes and referee Nduna Nkosana awarded the visitors a penalty that Sadiki took and scored for FC Platinum’s third of the day.

Innocent Kutsanzira and Tedius Mugumanya had chances to reduce the deficit for Quelaton but failed to take them before Joel Ngodzo showed them how it is done with a gem of a goal on 74 minutes.

The former Highlanders player unleashed a thunderbolt from about 30 metres out to beat the otherwise impressive Marime hands down after a good passing movement that involved a number of his teammates.