Leopards went down 2-1 to Tusker FC at the Nyayo National Stadium.
AFC Leopards succumbed to another loss after ten man Tusker FC beat them 2-1 in a midweek KPL encounter played at Nyayo Stadium. The win catapulted Tusker back to the top of KPL standings after a series of poor result.
Tusker began the match on a high after AFC keeper Abel Omukhaya carelessly fabled a harmless free kick shot from Noah Abich to give the brewers an early lead with new Tusker signing Hillary Echesa’s thunderous shot rattling the post seven minutes into the match.
Ugandan import Jimmy Bageya was the first to test Tusker custodian Boniface Oluoch with a low shot on the 9th minute but nothing tangible came out of it.
After a great build up from the AFC midfield new recruit Collins Kisuya evened the score with a brilliant shot that keeper Oluoch couldn’t hold on to. The goal brought a lot of relief to Coach Yakhama’s face with Ingwe fans even affording a Poznan dance but all that was to be short-lived.
A defensive lapse allowed Tusker’s George Midenyo lob the ball past keeper Omukhaya with quarter of an hour gone. The second goal made the fans call for Omukhaya’s substitution to which the technical bench that comprised of new Dutch tactician Jan Koops obliged by bringing in Barnabas Tiema. Tiema had been benched by Yakhama who blamed him for costing the team the three goals against Sofapak a week ago.
Tusker suffered a setback when Chrispin Olando was shown red after a second successive yellow with just 22 minutes played.This gifted AFC a one man advantage but they failed to capitalize on the same.
Immediately after the break, former Rangers midfielder Charles Okwemba had a chance to give AFC an equalizer but his shot went begging. Keeper Tiema prevented further blushes for AFC with a fingertip save to deny Dennis Mukaisi’s goal bound shot in the 62nd minute.
As the clock ticked away, AFC dominated much of the possession that never translated into goals against their seasoned opposition. Tusker shielded late attacks to claim the three points on offer and moved to the top of the KPL Table but close rivals Rangers FC and Ulinzi have a game at hand.
Besieged AFC Coach Nick Yakhama blamed “another bad luck” and a problem in goal keeping for the loss. “For sure you cannot blame the coach for such blunders in goalkeeping. Last week was a goalkeeping blunder, today the same thing. We hope to solve this problem soon.” He said
His counterpart from Tusker Pamzo Omollo showered praises on his boys “The boys played hard especially when we were down. We were numerically disadvantaged but the boys showed character and maintained the mental strength to win the match on behalf of their team mate who was red carded. That was a fantastic display”
Supersport has two stories. The first one is
filed by James Wokabi.
George Midenyo marked his return to action with a goal as ten man Tusker beat AFC Leopards 2-1 in a midweek league tie to move to the top of the league standings.
They had to do it the hard way though playing for over an hour when a man down after midfielder Crispine Olando was sent off for two bookable offences in the clash played at Nyayo National stadium.
It was Leopards’ fifth defeat in six matches increasing the pressure on embattled Coach Nick Yakhama.
He had made changes from the side that lost to Sofapaka bringing on goalkeeper Abel Omuhaya, Bernard Man’goli, Charles Okwemba and Collins Kisuya while Tusker had Midenyo back for the first time in months after injury and Hillary Echesa made his debut.
The brewers had the best possible start going ahead in the opening minute of the game after a schoolboy error by Omuhaya. The goalkeeper punched a harmless Noah Abich freekick into his own net while under no pressure whatsoever.
They almost made it 2-0 five minutes later when Echesa’s wonderfully struck volley came back off the woodwork with the keeper rooted to the spot.
Leopards found a way back into the match on ten minutes in emphatic fashion when Kisuya took a short corner, exchanged passes with a teammate before catching Tusker keeper Boniface Oluoch out with a thunderbolt at his near post.
The brewers regained the lead on 14 minutes when Midenyo sneaked in between Nahimana Johana and Nicholas Muyoti to volley in an Abich cross. Things got tougher for the Ruaraka side on 21 minutes when Olando was sent off after receiving a second yellow card.
Leopards also made an early substitution bringing on Barnabas Tiema for Omuhaya.
Despite being a man down, Tusker almost made it 3-1 on 36 minutes but Nahimana cleared Mukaisi’s acrobatic volley with the keeper beaten.
The brewers had the better chance sin the second half with Tiema pulling off a flying fingertip save to keep out a Mukaisi scorcher on 62 minutes. The former Leopards striker had another go a minute from fulltime but once again Tiema foiled him.
The second story by
Supersport is by Fred Maingi.
FC Leopards coach Nick Yakhama attributed his team’s 2-1 loss to Tusker in a midweek Kenya Premier League (KPL) tie to goalkeeping mistakes.
Regular Barnabas Tiema was dropped in favour of newly signed Abel Omuhaya but a comedy of errors saw the former Tusker keeper substituted 21 minute sionto the game.
It was Leopards’ fifth loss in six matches and Yakhama said lack of concentration and had led to basic errors from his new signings.
“Abel is an experienced player having played for defunct Utalii FC, Tusker and Mahakama. So I started with him and see whether he will make an impact but it turned out to be a poor day for him and that cost us the game,” Yakhama said in the post-match interview.
“As much as the fans are disappointed,” added Yakhama, “we are also worried and concerned with our series of losses. My new players are still settling down and soon, we are going to bounce back,” he added.
Leopards’ midfielder Charles Okwemba said the team was slowly building up and called upon his teammates not to relent.
“We still have ambitions of finishing among the top five. We just urge our fans to continue supporting us and remain patient with the team. This is a new team because majority of players were acquired during the just ended transfer period and are yet to gel into a unit,” said Okwemba.
Dutch man Jan Koops who joined the club last week to assist Yakhama defended Omuhaya saying he will have learnt a few lessons from the match.
“We are in transition where the club has had to bring in new players. Once these players get the act together, we will be back to our winning ways,” said Koops.
THE Kenyan Premier League’s second leg matches of the season started on Wednesday night, Tusker breaking their three-match winless streak and handing defeat with serious repercussion to AFC Leopards.
Tusker’s 2-1 win over Leopards was Nick Yakhama’s fifth loss in six matches and the embattled coach watched dismayed by a night of bizarre occurrences.
Inexplicably, Yakhama started with a goalkeeper most people had never heard of while the regular Barnabas Tiema sat on the bench. The new man, Abel Omuhaya, had a howler inside two minutes, palming a feeble Noah Abich ball into his own net.
The shell-shocked man was Yakhama on the bench while his players regained their poise to hit back and level with a beautiful goal fired in by Collins Kisuya in the 10th minute.
The second Tusker goal was clearly the mistake of defenders who were beaten by George Midenyo before he volleyed past Omuhaya in the 14th minute, but supporters had had enough of the ‘keeper and harangued the coach to replace him with Tiema.
But fate threw Leopards a life line when Tusker were depleted by the ejection of midfielder Crispin Olando. He had received an earlier yellow card but his second was clearly undeserved. Olando did not foul his alleged victim, his attempted tackle having just blown off a cloud of chalk dust and fooling the ref that rough play had occurred.
Tusker had to make tactical substitution bring off striker Paul Were for Japhery Oyando, a defensive midfielder and the Brewers were able to defend their lead throughout the match.
| Pos | Team | P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | Tusker | 16 | 9 | 3 | 4 | 18 | 8 | 10 | 30 |
| 2 | Rangers | 15 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 20 | 9 | 11 | 29 |
| 3 | Ulinzi Stars | 15 | 7 | 6 | 2 | 16 | 9 | 7 | 27 |
| 4 | KCB | 15 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 22 | 12 | 10 | 25 |
| 5 | Sofapaka | 15 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 20 | 11 | 9 | 23 |
| 6 | Gor Mahia | 13 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 12 | 9 | 3 | 23 |
| 7 | Western Stima | 15 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 9 | 8 | 1 | 23 |
| 8 | Thika United | 15 | 6 | 3 | 6 | 18 | 19 | -1 | 21 |
| 9 | Chemelil Sugar | 15 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 8 | 12 | -4 | 18 |
| 10 | Mathare United | 15 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 15 | 15 | 0 | 17 |
| 11 | Karuturi Sports | 15 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 11 | -4 | 17 |
| 12 | AFC Leopards | 15 | 5 | 1 | 9 | 13 | 18 | -5 | 16 |
| 13 | Sony Sugar | 14 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 9 | 15 | -6 | 16 |
| 14 | Congo United | 15 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 11 | 21 | -10 | 14 |
| 15 | Bandari | 15 | 4 | 1 | 10 | 11 | 24 | -13 | 13 |
| 16 | City Stars | 15 | 3 | 3 | 9 | 8 | 16 | -8 | 12 |
