Bidco show no fear
With the Betking Kenya Premier League set to take a break this weekend to pave for the FKF Betway Cup, seasoned teams will have to be extra vigilant when playing their inexperienced counterparts when the games return going by the latest performance of some of the newly promoted sides, especially Bidco United.
The Thika-based team, which is under the tutelage of Anthony Akhulia, is increasingly giving big timers scant respect proving that they deserved promotion to the top flight.
Bidco finished second to Nairobi City Stars in the National Super League (NSL) last season for both teams to be promoted to the country’s top tier.
Barely a week after bruising the egos of Posta Rangers by defeating them 1-0, Bidco took up from where they left at the weekend by dispatching Zoo FC 2-0.
Following the conquest over Zoo, Bidco are now placed in the ninth position after swapping places with Ulinzi Stars who failed to make the most of home ground advantage on Monday after they were held to a two-all draw by Western Stima in Nakuru.
But Zoo founder and coach Ken Ochieng believes people should not read too much into the results of the teams that sit at the basement of the 18-team chart.
“We may be entrenched at the foot of the table but we will gradually lift ourselves up,” said Ochieng’ while dismissing talk of a possible relegation of Zoo from the league.
In the meantime, the talking point of the weekend was the Mashemeji Derby between Gor Mahia and AFC Leopards which ended in a barren draw at Kasarani.
Despite failure to break the jinx and finally beat their rivals, Leopards did pick a point to stretch their almost flawless run and are now placed in the fourth position with 19 points from nine matches.
For Gor, failure to be beaten by their onsong rivals gave them confidence going into their CAF Confederation Cup group stage qualification against NAPSA of Zambia in Nairobi this weekend.
Leopards may have failed in their bid to end Gor’s dominance in Mashemeji derbies, but Ingwe chairman Dan Shikanda was impressed with the result, saying its a sign the disturbing jinx is coming to an end.
“To me, this is a fair result considering that we have been perennially been losing to Gor.
I must say there are a lot of burgeoning talents at Leopards now to make the team give Gor pound for pound in future derbies,’’ said Shikanda.
In the meantime, Western Stima breathed life into their floundering fortunes by holding pre-match favourites Ulinzi in midweek action at Afraha Stadium in Nakuru.
