Nyasa Big Bullets head coach Kalisto Pasuwa anticipates a tough fixture against Karonga United in the TNM Super League away in Karonga on Saturday.
The People’s Team will put their unbeaten start to the season at stake when they travel to Northern Region to take on a side which has been providing tough opposition against the champions at home.
While Bullets have won four out of five league matches played so far, their opponents are winless in the five matches they have played, losing two and registering three draws.
Saturday’s match will be very crucial as the hosts will be looking for their first win with the coming in of Christopher Nyambose as their new coach following the firing of Zimbabwean Festus Magaya this week.
Pasuwa has since cautioned his players not to underrate their opponents, insisting they are a very dangerous team that will fight to cause an upset.
“To be honest I think they are still a very dangerous team [despite being winless] and any team in their position is wounded,” he told club media in an exclusive interview on Friday.
“It’s a game which won’t be easy for us. When we came here last time we lost against them. [They are] a very good disciplined side where if you give them room to play they will play. It’s a team that has been losing and drawing games and for this reason they will rise up to the occasion against us and we are mentally preparing our guys to not underestimate them just because they are on a losing streak.
“Like last time, we played Ekwendeni, Dedza Dynamos and Mafco, but before playing them I watched Mafco playing another team and they struggled, but against us they came very hard and this is exactly what Karonga United will do. They might be struggling, but when they play us they will give it all, thus we need to be very careful so that by the end of the day we collect three points,” said Pasuwa.
Bullets have played two games away from home in which they collected four points and the Zimbabwean tactician believes away games are very crucial towards their title defence and his side needs to approach Karonga United with a winning mentality.
“Approaching Karonga United is like any other teams we play, but we just need to do this with a winning mentality. We have been having problems at times when it comes to dealing with lateral balls coming into the box and we have been working on it in order for us to do well in defending these high balls behind defence. We hope this time around we will do well and also make sure we capitalize on the chances we get just because mostly, when we are playing away, we miss so many chances then at the end of the day we end up losing points, but we will do whatever it takes to claim all the points and maintain our good start to the season,” he explained.
Hadji Wali, Precious Phiri, Clever Mkungula and Ernest Petro have been missing on the sidelines due to injuries, but the tactician gave a very positive update on his missing players.
“Our health bill is okay, no one is injured as of now and we have a wider selection of players for the match, which is a massive boost to our quest for three points and we hope anyone chosen will do the job for the club,” disclosed Pasuwa.
The last meeting between the two teams last season ended 3-2 in favor of the defending champions who staged a stunning comeback after trailing 2-0 in the first half at Kamuzu Stadium after Karonga had won the first-round tie 1-0 at home.
Going into Saturday’s match, Bullets are second on the table with 13 points from five games, whilst the hosts are second from the bottom with three points from six games.
