Many AFC Leopards fans believed that under the tutelage of Stewart Hall, a coach who had won trophies in neighbouring Tanzania, the long wait to be crowned league champions would not go to its second decade.
But after eleven matches, it looks like Leopards the wait for a first championship crown since 1998, is set to continue. Sunday’s draw with unheralded Zoo Kericho, was the latest in a series of poor results having suffered a similar fate against arch-rivals and league leaders Gor Mahia a fortnight ago.
Against Zoo , then it took a late equaliser from Ghanaian striker Gilbert Fiamenyo to spare them from the jaws of defeat in Machakos. That result was a clear signal yet that Ingwe do not have what it takes to compete for the title at least this season—a situation
that has left Hall and his assistants scratching their heads in search of a lasting solution to Ingwe’s perennial under achievements.
“Our problem is on set pieces. It could be positioning and it could be lack of concentration but we have to work on handling set pieces because we have conceded goals from set pieces in four consecutive games. That is not acceptable.
“Against Zoo, the boys played according to instructions in the first 20 minutes. They didn’t come back strongly in the second half and we rightly conceded the goal.
“After we conceded, we became too anxious and forgot that we were supposed to play the ball down. We kept playing the ball forward due to the pressure and it is by good luck that we found the equaliser. Fiamenyo is a special player when he turns up, ” said assistant coach Dennis Kitambi in his post match comments posted on the KPL official portal after the Zoo game.
Fiamenyo has been one of the consistent bright spot in an otherwise dull Ingwe squad that has been illuminated sparingly by individual qualities of Paul Kiongera and Allan Katerega. The burly Fiamenyo is the club’s top soccer with five goals,
just one shy of the ‘Golden Boot’ race leader Stephen Waruru of Ulinzi Stars. In fact, the Ghanaian’s total is half of
the goals the team has scored so far in their nearly a dozen matches.