Dikwena finished the recently concluded Absa Premiership in ninth, just one point outside of the MNT8 qualifying positions, despite a 1-0 win over SuperSport United in the final game of the league campaign.
The Rustenburg side are also in danger of dropping out of continental competition as they find themselves bottom of Group B in the CAF Confed Cup after managing just one point from their opening two games.
Stars will, therefore, be looking for their first win in the group when they face third-placed CS Sfaxien on Friday, and former Mamelodi Sundowns player Mere is hoping Dikwena can avoid the same shortcomings there suffered domestically.
“I have played against them [CS Sfaxien] while I was still at [Mamelodi] Sundowns. That was years ago so they may have changed drastically,” he is quoted as saying by Platinum Stars.
"It’s not about them, it’s about us. Obviously, we were not happy with our results against Mbabane Swallows [a 4-2 loss for Platinum Stars].
"It was very disappointing so we can’t go on like that. It’s not going to be easy but we are going to go out there and fight.
"It was one of the most difficult seasons but we made it hard for ourselves. If you can check, the first six matches we didn’t do well. We didn’t collect much-needed points to be comfortable. That’s why we had to fight for our lives before the end of the season,
"We finished well, though we are not in the top eight.”