Brewers out to drown Sony

The 2007 Kenyan Premier League champions, Tusker FC, struggled against an invigorated Gor Mahia last weekend but lost 2-1: Head coach James Nandwa wasn’t particularly pleased with the performance.

But he’s happy to still be at the second spot in the table standings. Gor put in a stellar display and deserved their celebrations at the end of the gratifying score-line, which didn’t look likely when the league’s top scorer, Joseph Emeka opened the scoring after 17 minutes for Tusker.

Elisha Ochieno equalised before substitute, Habil Otieno added “K’Ogalo’s” advantage as Nandwa was left rueing missed opportunities from his usually free-scoring side.

“There were some great chances,” Nandwa said after the match. “We should have taken more of them and then we would have won the game comfortably,” he said. “We should have won the game, but the good thing is we still have the chances of finishing at the top as the season takes a break this weekend.”

But there is no talk of form worries now as the brewers look ahead to tomorrow’s mid-season showdown with Sony Sugar at Kasarani.

Take a recess

“The dodgy spell only lasted a couple of minutes really but it seemed like about four or five,” Nandwa. Interestingly, the loss only made them stronger.

“There was never really any fear we would not come out of it. In fact it just made us more focused the other way. We knew we had to perform and go on a long run of winning games,” he said.

As the season take a recess from next week, Tusker now aim to shift their focus to defend the East African Council of East and Central Africa Football Associations (Cecafa) Clubs Cup title, in the tournament that starts next month in Sudan.

“It is going to be a huge game and one we are all looking forward to.” Augustine Etemesi, Joseph Emeka and Nathan Mutenza offer a prolific striking force, supplemented by pure midfield artistry in the form of Jerry Santos and Japhery Oyando.

Fixtures: Saturday: Sofapaka vs. Western Stima (Kasarani, 11am), Mathare United vs. Ulinzi Stars (Kasarani, 1pm), Gor Mahia vs. Bandari (Kasarani, 3pm), Sher Karuturi vs. Thika United (Sher 3pm), Agrochemicals vs. City Stars (Muhoroni, 3pm, Red Berets vs. AFC Leopards (Afraha 3pm).

Sunday: Tusker vs. Sony Sugar (Kasarani 1pm) and KCB vs. Chemelil Sugar (Kasarani 3pm).

With Sofapaka’s current high-flying form, Saturday’s match should be used as a yardstick for the top of the table leaders against Western Stima.

But Stima haven’t had as bad a start to this year’s league as some would have predicted, netting five wins and six draws since the start of the season.

Since their 1-0 win over Nairobi City Stars last month, Western Stima have had a 3-2 win over Kenya Commercial Bank and a 1-1 draw at Thika United, among other wins- a feat that has seen them take up a respectable fourth place on the Premier League table- but with Sofapaka’s recent wins, Robert Matano’s young troupe is becoming a side to be reckoned with and will no doubt be fighting off Tusker and Thika United to keep their place at the top of the League.

While Tusker try to recover their equilibrium, Gideon Ochieng’ of Gor Mahia, stubbornly refuses to let the obvious gulf in class between his side and Bandari change his philosophy of youth development.

The Gor tactician will look to strengthen his squad in the close-season but at the moment, his focus is getting three points against the Coastal side on Sunday.

“I believe we have to take on the chin the critics, but it is down to how strongly we believe in ourselves and how good I think the team is,” said Ochieng’.

Matches have been moved to Kasarani, due to the unavailability of Nyayo national Stadium.