Don’t rule us out from title race – Matano warns
Winning a back-to-back Kenyan Premier League title is Tusker’s key objective this season, head coach Robert Matano has said.
As the league takes an 11-day break, Matano has asked his charges not to rest on their laurels despite the team having closed in on league leaders Kakamega Homeboyz.
“The league is a Marathon and we have to give our best in terms of performance. We are not looking at the way other teams are performing and we would rather focus on the fixtures awaiting us,”
“We shall take each match at a time at the resumption of the season and I must say we have our eyes firmly fixed on the title. I have already told the boys the need for us to protect our reputation as the defending champions,” said Matano.
Speaking to the club’s official website, Tusker forward Joshua Ibrahim says the players will give everything in the season to ensure the team finishes the season strongly.
Joshua says the players know just how important the season is and reiterates everyone is giving a 100 per cent push. “We are prepared for every match and we know now every match is a final. We want to do well and hopefully, we remain a fit squad till the end of the season. We will attain good results,” the Tanzanian forward stated.
Many fans are still yet to discern the fact that the defending champions were placed midway through the chart with seemingly no hopes of joining the frontrunners for the race.
During that time, Tusker, apparently due to fatigue from featuring in the energy-sapping Africa Champions League, posted indifferent results to the disappointment of their faithfuls.
But the bottlers would later lift themselves, winning matches in their wake and now sees light at the tunnel in defending their title.
As the league takes a lull, it will also be interesting to observe what will be up the sleeves of Homeboyz upon the restart.
Homeboyz has been the most consistent team by all standards apparently due to the heavy investment by its owner and founder in business Cleophas Shimanyula and for the team to maintain the number one position for a lengthy period speaks volumes of their intent to bag their maiden title.
At one point in the season, Abana Abeingo was placed third before turning on the heat to scale the ladder at the expense of more experienced teams.
However, despite being in the driving seat in the pecking order, their title chances received a jolt recently when Bandari inflicted them their second loss of the season which was a blessing in disguise to their closest challengers Tusker with whom they are separated by eight points.
As for now, the race for the title is still wide open and it would be utterly wrong to write off third-placed Nairobi City Stars (38 points), Gor Mahia (38 points), KCB (37 points), Bandari (37 points), Posta Rangers (35 points and even FC Talanta (31 points).
