HARARE - Castle Premiership strugglers Quelaton believe today’s encounter with FC Platinum at Luveve Stadium will mark a turning point in their fight to prolong their stay in the country’s first tier football league.

Quelaton anchor the 16-team log standings with a mere six points to their credit and trail the team that sits above them, Blue Rangers, by eight points.

“We all realise that we have to start picking up maximum points if we are to entertain any chances of survival and I am optimistic that we will do exactly that against FC Platinum,” Chipo Tsodzo, the Quelaton assistant coach, said yesterday.

His sentiments were shared by Kwela Kwela skipper Innocent Kutsanzira who said:  “We have to try by all means to win tomorrow (today) and boost our chances of surviving the chop at the end of the season.”

In their last home match against Buffaloes in Week 19, Kwela Kwela displayed a gritty performance that belied their status as the top flight’s basement side, but their failure to score proved to be their undoing as the match ended in a goalless stalemate.

The home side will be banking on their steady central defence-pairing of Sikhumbulani Dube and Zibusiso Sibanda to keep the expensively-assembled Platinum at bay.

One player that may give the visitors’ defence a lot of problems is attacking midfielder Mhleli Sibanda, who on his day can prove to be a handful with his fancy footwork.

Platinum has had a disappointing run this year when compared to their maiden season last year when they agonisingly lost the championship to Dynamos by a mere goal difference only in their debut PSL season.

On paper, the visitors are expected to overrun the home side but their star-studded team may come unstuck against the sheer determination of a Quelaton side that many have already written off as relegation bound.

Platinum won the reverse fixture 2-0 in Zvishavane.

Another potentially entertaining match is in the offing tomorrow when Chicken Inn host unbeaten Highlanders at Barbourfields Stadium.

The two teams played out a goalless draw in the reverse fixture.