Accra, Oct 7, GNA - Black Stars trainer, Milovan Rajevac is counting on the mental toughness of his charges to prevail in an envisaged gruelling Group Five World Cup and African Cup of Nations qualifier billed against Lesotho on Saturday at the Essipong stadium near Sekondi.

Ghana is faced with a must win situation to maintain any realistic chance of picking one of the two slots for the next stage of qualifiers and the Serbian believes the team's mental toughness could do the trick. He told GNA Sports "the team is very strong mentally and I know that will be one of the many advantages we will use to get a convincing win."

The Stars would be without injured inspirational midfielder, Michael Essien and banned Laryea Kinston but the Coach insists he has enough depth in reserve to fill the duo's places. "Michael and Laryea are very important but we have players who are equally determined to help the team so we have put behind us the fact that these two players will not be available."

Coach Milovan said his team is psychological prepared for the game and would fight for a fine result that would push their ambitions on the high note.

He told GNA Sports that the team is aware of the tricky nature of the match and would employ an efficient way to win it. Ghana won the last meeting 3-2 in the first encounter and lie at the third position on the four-team group with nine points. Saturday's game at the Essipong Stadium would be Milovan's first at home.