Marines FC head coach Abdoul Karim Nduhirabandi has said that new signing Jimmy Mbaraga will be key in the team’s plot to avoid relegation—the former Amavubi forward will make his bow in January.

The former Police FC player, 26, signed a two-year contract for the struggling Rubavu-based outfit and Nduhirabandi is confident the new signing has what it takes to improve the club’s lowly targets.

"Mbaraga is an experienced player and we are happy to have him here, it’s a good start to improving the team because we have not made a very good start to the season. We haven’t been performing well in the last couple of matches and we are under pressure to win.”

Marines are 13th in the 16-team league table standing with five points after a win and two draws from the eight matches. Nduhirabandi admits some of his players have underperformed this season, but believes they will up their game as the season progresses.

Marines’s next league match will be against Musanze FC on Sunday at Nyakinama ground. Musanze are three points and one place above Marines.

Nduhirabandi stated that, "We have high hopes in him (Mbaraga) to help the club win more than we lose if we are to have chance of avoiding relegation at the end of the season. Mbaraga can perform on different levels, and hopefully he will push the other players in the right direction.”

The midfielder cum forward, who also featured for AS Kigali and Amavubi, has been a free agent.

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