Rusawo believes

BLACK Rhinos goalkeeper Herbert Rusawo believes the army side will finally banish the ghost that saw his team become the league’s whipping boys by collecting maximum points against Bulawayo City at Rufaro this afternoon.

The Zimbabwe National Army flagship football team have collected just a single point from eight outings in the second half of the season.

Pandemonium in their ranks claimed the scalps of coach Stanford “Stix” Mtizwa’s backroom staff two weeks ago.

But Rusawo reckons the soldiers have what it takes to finally win this afternoon.

Both teams interestingly posted identical 1-1 stalemates in their last encounters with Rhinos, scoring three minutes from time to get a point against Triangle at Rufaro last Saturday.

Bulawayo City matched champions CAPS United at Hartsfield on Wednesday.

“We are aware of the difficult situation we find ourselves in at this juncture of the marathon. Having spent virtually the entire period of the first half of the season in the leading pack, we ought to perform better than we have done in the past two or so months,’’ said Rusawo.

“At the moment we have slid from the apex of the log to stick in the middle and who knows, if the teams behind us post positive results against our poor showing, we can end up singing survival blues.

“I, therefore, want to challenge my teammates to up their game so that we can take home the maximum points tomorrow (this afternoon).

‘’I think we have been playing well as a team but results kept eluding us.

“But this time around, well, I am confident we will win and take it from there. It has been a while since we last celebrated a league victory and I want to say against Bulawayo City, we will finally come to the party.’’

Rusawo converted from the spot as Chauya Chipembere won the reverse fixture 1-0 in Bulawayo.

With the team’s secretary-general Camble Sithole continually saying the executive still stands by Mtizwa, Rhinos are under pressure to win this one.

“I am very confident with the high morale the team has at the moment, we will win the game. I believe in them because as far as I can see they have improved and they are now much better.

“Our aim is to collect maximum points from this game tomorrow (today),” he said.