Black Rhinos seek to maintain great start

ARMY side Black Rhinos will be hoping for another successful trip to the City of Kings when they take on Bulawayo City in an early kick-off of the Castle Lager Premiership match on Saturday.

The match will be screened live on SuperSport at 1PM.

Chauya Chipembere, as Rhinos are affectionately known, emerged 1-0 victors over Chicken Inn two weeks ago and have so far dominated Bulawayo teams after they also gored Bantu Rovers 3-0 in a match played at the National Sports Stadium.

Marko Ncube, the Black Rhinos manager, said while they respected Bulawayo City, their focus was fully on collecting maximum points and maintaining their great start to the season that has seen them produce the best defence so far, conceding just two goals inside 540 minutes of football.

A win for the army outfit will propel them to the top of the league table with 14 points, although that could turn out to be brief depending on how the second match on the day between How Mine and FC Platinum ends.

“We have all the respect for Bulawayo City due to their experience so far in the league, but we are going to Bulawayo to fight for maximum points.

“We have gone this far where only two goals have been scored against us as a result of self belief and the zeal to prove prophets of doom wrong because we were labelled relegation material even before the season started and it is that defiance spirit that has so far carried us,” said Ncube.

The soldiers’ only defeat was in the season’s opener against Ngezi Platinum Stars, who beat them by a solitary goal at Baobab Stadium, before recovering in the second in a 1-1 draw away to Triangle.

Their defence is marshalled by inspirational captain Bruce Homora, who could be make the national team if he maintains his form.

“Even when we were in Division One last year, we had the best defence and we still want to do that in the Premiership,” said Ncube.

On Saturday, they come up against a side which is low in morale, having gone for four games without registering a win after drawing with FC Platinum at home and Harare City away before back-to-back losses to Triangle United and ZPC Kariba.

Bulawayo City’s two victories were recorded against Chicken Inn and Shabanie Mine, who they beat 2-1 and 2-0 respectively. — @skhumoyo2000