RELEGATION FIGHT HOTS UP: Four teams have heads on chopping board, with two rounds of matches left
With two matches left before the SportPesa Premier League season winds up, four teams; Chemelil Sugar, Nairobi City Stars, KCB and Nakuru All Stars are all in line for relegation.
While the three teams;Nairobi City Stars, KCB and Nakuru All Stars have battled relegation in the last two seasons, Chemelil Sugar find themselves in a rather unfamiliar territory. The sugar millers have had one of their worst seasons and will need to ask themselves what could have gone wrong considering they finished fifth last season. That achievement aside, their former coach Mike Mururi was also named Kenyan Premier League (KPL) coach of the year, crowning a good season in which a number of their players also won various personal awards. For the second season in a row, KCB also find themselves battling relegation and the bankers made matters worse for themselves after going down 1-0 to Nairobi City Stars at the weekend. It is a result that has left KCB coach Rishadi Shedu frustrated and in search of answers over what to do. With two matches left -against Ulinzi and Western Stima, Shedu has admitted it will be a tough end to the season.
“The good thing is we are still on top of City Stars and everything now depends on how we play against Stima and Ulinzi. I can say we have had a good record against Ulinzi Stars, whom we defeated (home and away) last season and hope to replicate the same results,” he said. Shedu said he was gutted after losing to City Stars and blamed his players for being too anxious to score goals. “We wanted to win so badly and this brought some anxious moments to our players. They were not calm in front of goal and could not score despite creating numerous chances. Our goalkeeper was just on a holiday mood in the entire 90 minutes of play. See Also: Tusker coach Kimanzi steps aside One positive thing we take from this result is that as long as we keep on playing with the same hunger and determination, everything should be fine,” he said. On what could have gone wrong during the season, Shedu said reliance on particular players and failure to recruit competitively, must have cost them. “We are grateful that our lead striker Paul Kiongera has remained with us for a good part of the season. I do not know where we would have been without him.” “It is unfortunate we have to rely on him to score goals for us,”he added.
------------------------------XXXXXXX-------------
SPL round 28: What they said
The SportPesa Premier League relegation fight took centre stage with KCB, Nairobi City Stars and Nakuru All Stars all involved in a dogfight to avoid the big drop. And what a twist of the tale this round provided as City Stars beat KCB to stay alive will denying the bankers their guarantee for survival even as All Stars stayed in the mix, even if only mathematically. What more would a league ask for?
Stanley Okumbi (Mathare United coach): “AFC (Leopards) have won this game (drew 0-0 with AFC Leopards). The plan was to secure maximum points from this match so that we could be more comfortable in the last game but the players never converted any of their chances.”
Ezekiel Akwana (AFC Leopards assistant coach):“These boys have been training only intermittently in the past week and to see them put up such a strong performance against Mathare United is truly inspirational (drew 0-0 with Mathare United). Because of the fitness levels in the team, the game plan was to deny the opponent the ball so that they wouldn’t outrun us and I am happy that it worked.”
Dennis Okoth (City Stars stand-in coach): “These three points mean so much for us (beat KCB 1-0). We always concede in our games, but today we have recorded a clean sheet and that adds a lot of confidence to the team. There is no short cut to success. Even now we are not yet safe, and we shall continue to work hard and fight until the end. I hope the players will show the same spirit when we face out next two opponents.”
Elvis Ayany (KCB assistant coach): “This is very disappointing (lost 1-0 to KCB). We had so many chances to score yet All Stars created only once and managed to score. The players were in too much of a hurry and now we have put ourselves in a very difficult situation from which we have to get out. We simply have to avoid relegation and it is in our hands to do so.”
Francis Baraza (Chemelil Sugar coach): “Being the first day with them in the 2015 league match, I noticed some lack of concentration on the defense (drew 1-1 with Western Stima) . However, the striking force was well organized and that’s why we managed to score the equalizer. All in all, I am a happy coach for that performance.”
Twahir Muhiddin (Bandari coach): “We lost many chances (drew 1-1 with Nakuru All Stars). We had two genuine penalty calls, but were denied, otherwise we should have won the match. God will pay for us. I can also say that the introduction of young players has really helped us. I like their output, for example Nasoud Juma and Hamisi Tole. Juma is a typical younger Dennis Oliech. He will earn a Harambee Stars call up. That I have no doubt.”
Robert Matano (Ulinzi Stars coach): “We just started that match badly and by the time the boys were settling down, it was too late (lost 2-0 to Thika United). The strikers began to seriously work hard in the second half but by this time Thika could afford to pack their backline which made it very difficult for us to penetrate.”
Moses Irungu (Thika United coach): “The boys did a good job and to be honest, I didn’t think we had much of a chance considering we were playing away from home (beat Ulinzi Stars 2-0). I think the boys just played their hearts out during that game, but I also know that they followed pre-match instructions to the letter. Our focus will be on attaining a top eight finish and we will approach our next two matches accordingly. I hope that will be possible.”
Leading SPL scorers
Leading SPL scorers
Leading SportPesa Premier League scorers after Sunday’s matches.
19: Jesse Were (Tusker)
15: Micheal Olunga (Gor Mahia)
14: John Makwata (Ulinzi Stars)
13: Meddie Kagere (Gor Mahia)
11: Kiongera Mungai (KCB)
10: Sanneh Ebrima (City Stars)
9: Ali Abondo (Gor Mahia), Boniface Akenga (Nakuru All Stars), Bebeto Lwamba (Nakuru All Stars)
8: Jacob Keli* (AFC Leopards), Moses Arita (Ushuru)
7: Ray Omondi (Thika United), John Baraza (Ushuru), Noah Abich (Mathare United), George Mandela (Muhoroni Youth), Anthony Kimani (Bandari)
*Has since left the SPL
Venue change for GOtv Shield clash
The GOtv Shield round of 16 match between AFC Leopards and Ulinzi Stars earlier scheduled for the Nyayo National Stadium has been moved to Afraha Stadium in the latter’s home turf of Nakuru.
The match was set for last Wednesday but was postponed by a week to October 21 since the AFC Leopards side has a Kenyan Premier League match against Sofapaka scheduled for the same day.
Football Kenya Federation [FKF] confirmed the development s through a communique sent over the weekend as it sought to clear the air.
The winner of this match will face coast based side Bandari FC in the quarter finals at a yet to be announced date. To make it to the quarters, the dockers saw off third tier side AP Bomet 2-1.
The winner between AFC Leopards and Ulinzi Stars will join Nzoia United who ejected Tusker FC, SoNy Sugar who saw off West Kenya, Nakumatt, Administration Police and Bandari while the interrupted match between Muhoroni and Police remains undecided
SportPesa Premier League | RESULTS
|
| ||||||||||||||||||
|
| ||||||||||||||||||
|
| ||||||||||||||||||
SportPesa Premier League | FIXTURES
All times CAT (SA, GMT+2)
| Wednesday 21 October 2015 |
| SonySugar | v | Tusker | Awendo Green Stadium | 15:00 | |
| Sofapaka | v | Gor Mahia | City Stadium | 16:00 |
| Saturday 24 October 2015 |
| Ushuru | v | City Stars | City Stadium | 14:00 | |
| Bandari | v | Western Stima | Mombasa County Stadium | 15:00 | |
| SonySugar | v | Nakuru All Stars | Awendo Green Stadium | 15:00 | |
| KCB | v | Ulinzi Stars | City Stadium | 15:00 | |
| Muhoroni Youth | v | AFC Leopards | Moi Kisumu | 15:00 |
| Sunday 25 October 2015 |
| Thika United | v | Chemelil Sugar | Thika Stadium | 15:00 | |
| Mathare United | v | Sofapaka | City Stadium | 15:00 | |
| Tusker | v | Gor Mahia | Moi Kisumu | 15:00 |
| Wednesday 28 October 2015 |
| Gor Mahia | v | Western Stima | Nyayo Stadium | 16:00 |
Nenhum comentário:
Postar um comentário