Castle Lager Premier Soccer League returnees Black Rhinos are determined to have a good home record as they bid to avoid an immediate return to the second-tier division.
BY HENRY MHARA
The army side lost their opening match away to Ngezi Platinum before bouncing back with a victory over Chapungu at home a fortnight ago. They welcome Bantu Rovers at the National Sports Stadium this afternoon, and ahead of that clash, coach, Stanford Mtizwa is hopeful of another good showing from his players in front of their supporters.
“Our main priority this season is to avoid relegation, and to do that, we have to have good results at home. We have to try and get maximum points in all our home matches,” he said.
“We are playing a side that was also promoted this season, so this is a chance for us to collect some points. It will not be easy though, but we will throw everything into it. We have to collect as many points as possible in the first round when teams are still trying to settle because we know it will be very difficult in the second round of matches.”
Rhinos were scheduled to play Dynamos last week, but the match was postponed because of the latter’s involvement in the Independence Trophy tournament.
“We were very disappointed that the match was cancelled. A game against Dynamos is what you look for when the fixtures are released and we were really looking forward to the match. We had worked hard and prepared enough for that match. We were hoping to get a good result, which could have boosted the team’s confidence going forward.”
Bantu Rovers are also going into the match with their tails up, following their 1-0 win over Triangle last week. Before that victory, they had lost their opening two matches, a 5-0 drubbing by Chicken Inn and a narrow 3-2 defeat at FC Platinum.
