Zimpapers Logo

Ellina Mhlanga Sports Reporter
RELEGATION survivors Starbill coach Elisha Mukusa said they will be out for maximum points when they meet Ngezi Platinum tomorrow at Gwanzura in the ZIFA Northern Region Division One soccer league.

The match will be beamed live on national television after the Northern Region leadership struck a deal with the national broadcaster ZBC for live coverage of their games.

The deal will see Division One league matches being screened live on ZTV every weekend. Starbill are coming from a 0-2 defeat at the hands of Blue Swallows last week and they need to pull themselves up if they are to beat Ngezi Platinum, who started their campaign on a good note last Saturday.

“Obviously, when you prepare for a game you prepare to get positive results. But you never know what happens when the game starts, you can only know after 90 minutes. But what I can say is we have prepared for the game and everyone is geared up since we lost our first game to Blue Swallows. As you know, we played our first game away from home and it’s always difficult especially when you play teams like Blue Swallows, it’s an army team and they have been together for a long time.

“The other factor is that we have tried to bring in young players and when we played them (Blue Swallows) we gave them too much respect and they ended up getting some goals,” said Mukusa.

Mukusa said they are an academy and their focus is more on nurturing and developing players before they can talk of other targets.

“We have got young players because we are an academy, we are there to develop players but at the same time we want to be at a respectable position. But for now as you know last year we were fighting relegation, we need to fight to be on a respectable position.

“We have been together for the past two seasons (with Ngezi) and I am aware of the danger they can pose because of the experience they have. So it’s going to be a tough match,” said Mukusa.

Mukusa, however, still has some of his old lieutenants including defenders Chipo Munyaradzi and Trust Nyabinde while Tapiwa Chamboko and Allister Chinyama will form part of the midfield as the Harare-based side seek to collect their first three points of the season.

However, Starbill, who will enjoy the home advantage have to brace up for a stiff challenge as Ngezi will also be out to continue with their good run after they emerged the biggest winners last week.

Last year the two teams met twice in the league with Starbill winning the first leg tie 2-1 but they lost 0-1 in the second round and it’s likely to be a thrilling encounter tomorrow when they clash.