Mesmerising Civo United hope to ‘die a little’ when welcoming to Civo Stadium wounded Epac while eyeing the 2014 TNM Super League’s third spot.

First-round meeting between the two teams ended 1-1, but now there is a lot at stake as Civo’s resolve is for a top-three finish, said general secretary Rashid Ntelela.

“We are remaining with three games only to finish off the league. Any slip-up will entail that our goal to finish on a decent position will be compromised, so fans should expect a game in which Civo will die a little to win,” said Ntelela while attributing the improved second-round form to the jelling of old and new players.

To displace Blue Eagles from the third place, Civo must shake off fatigue brought about by the punishing four away games in the last two consecutive weekends, including last Sunday’s 2-1 beating of Moyale Barracks in Mzuzu.

Civo have 38 points from 25 games whereas Epac occupy 11th place on the 15-member log table. Civo can bank on their relatively impressive home league form of five wins in 11 games compared to Epac’s two wins in 10 outings.

The only setback for Civo is the absence of injured teenage left-winger Thokozani Harrison. However, John Lanjesi returns to Civo defence from Flames duty, thereby allowing captain Emmanuel Zoya to switch back to his conventional left-back role.

In the other camp, Epac general secretary Roy Mdechi on Thursday said they had a full house going into this game with the likes of Abraham Sadiki, Samson Chonde and Dalitso Siliva ready to fly in midfield. Owen Chaima is expected to lead from the goalposts.

“In the last two games, we had a bit of a problem with our defence as we missed two centre backs. [But now] we are well prepared and we will definitely get all the three points,” Mdechi challenged on Thursday.