National Super League (NSL) action continues despite the FIFA International break given a hundred percent of its players will be absent from international engagements and the battle-both for promotion into the top flight, and survival- is on the homestretch.The relegation battle pits such teams as Mombasa Elite, Mulembe United, Kajiado FC, Gusii, and bottom-of-the-log Silibwet after round 32 matches. All teams are just marginally separated and Mulembe United, at one point last on the log, knows this.Midfielder turned center back Kevin Mwavali says it’s now or never for United.Mozzart Sport’s FKF Premier League Team of the Season”Only six more matches are remaining and we have learned better than to underrate anyone at this point of the season,” Mwavali begins. “No one wants to be relegated, that includes us. We have found ourselves in unfamiliar territory but slowly rising from it.”United dispatched familiar foes Vihiga Bullets 2-1 over the weekend to rise to just a point above the relegation zone. They next travel to fellow relegation-threatened Silibwet FC.Coach Edward Manoah’s men on Sunday put two quick ones past Bullets through Henry Onzere and Johnstone Muyesu at the Mumias Sports Complex with the visitors only managing a consolation goal in the closing stages.Now at 27 points from 32 matches, Mwavali admits that the away trip to Silibwet is the trickiest yet.##NAJAVA_MECA_8119948##”Such games are the hardest because even our opponents want to survive relegation. Given we will be away, we expect a very tough encounter and will give it everything. In the past, we lost some games because of being too casual but not this time,” continues the former Bullets man.The former premiership side, who host their matches at the Mumias Sports complex, had a massive player turnover in the mid-season with coaching changes too. Mwavali says they had to take a while for the entire team to blend.”Anyone who has watched our last seven matches will tell you that we are playing as a unit now, unlike previously. It may have taken a while to achieve it but we can see the fruits now. The focus now goes to replicating such performances in all the remaining games,” adds the man who at one point ventured out into the Tanzania Premier League with Fountain Gate FC.Among Mulembe United’s toughest remaining fixtures are such teams as title-chasing Naivas FC and regional rivals Luanda Villa FC. They will host Naivas at the Mumias Sports Complex after their return from Silibwet.
