AS Kigali head coach Eric Nshimiyimana is hoping to that his team can have a similar impressive run in the second half of the season as they had in the first round—the second round of the 2016/2017 national football league starts on February 10.

Going in the second round of the season, Nshimiyimana’s side are in fourth place on the league table standing with 29 points, seven points behind leaders Rayon Sports, after 15 rounds of matches.

"We had an excellent first round and now we’re focused on the second phase of the season; when we need to make the most of our performances because it will determine our position at the end of the season,” Nshimiyimana told Sunday Sport.

The former Amavubi captain and coach admitted that, "It is going to be quite an intense second round since every team will be motivated and determined to win more match to either move up the table or challenge for the title.”

"We still have a chance of winning the title, seven points is not a huge gap, we can always close that gap but we need to win more than we lose and also hope that others (title contenders) slip up more between now and end of the season,” noted Nshimiyimana, who is in his second season with AS Kigali.

The Kigali City sponsored side will begin the second round on Friday, locking horns with Nyagatare-based Sunrise FC at Kigali Nyamirambo Stadium. AS Kigali have nine wins, two draws and four losses.

Nshimiyimana and his players will be out to make amends for their 1-0 loss to Sunrise FC in the corresponding fixture.

The former Amavubi and APR FC midfielder still has a lot to prove if he is to win his first title with AS Kigali. In the first round, his team lost to Rayon Sports (2-0), Police FC (3-0) but surprisingly beat APR 1-0.

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