Days of frustration are becoming annoyingly frequent for Ulinzi Stars who half-way through the campaign have little of substance to fight for having been ousted from the GOtv Shield and certainly out of the race for the Kenyan Premier league title.
Tomorrow, the soldiers meet Mathare United in the league but head coach Benjamin Nyangweso seems to be concerned, like many other sides, with the level of officiating.
Nyangweso has called on authorities in Kenyan football to move with speed and reign in on erratic refereeing, especially in the KPL. Nyangweso registered his disappointment at a goal and penalty his team were ‘denied’.
“The second assistant referee was hell-bent on seeing us lose. He denied us a clear goal early in the game and I believe that would have been our motivation. We may have missed a lot of our chances but we were denied what was ours and I think we seriously need something done about officiating in this country. It hasn’t been good for us in the recent matches but we will try and address the issues we can, especially on striking. I believe we will be okay in the next game,” he said on the club official portal.
Ulinzi are battling to get to the top ten and will find it difficult against a Mathare side that will be seeking redemption after their midweek home loss to Sony Sugar. Sony themselves will not have it easy as they seek to retain their recent good run as a tricky clash in Awendo against resurgent AFC Leopards is on the cards.
Second-placed Sofapaka can move to the top of the table with victory over KCB in the last match of the weekend. Batoto Ba Mungu players will be buoyed by their recent performances that led their coach John Baraza to be awarded the coach of the month of March award by football journalists.
The 2009 champions have 41 points three behind leaders Gor Mahia and will go top should they consign the bankers to back to back defeats. Frank Ouna’s side fell to a narrow 1-0 defeat that so riled their normally calm coach that a confrontation with the brewers boss Robert Matano had to be averted.
Another mouth-watering clash will pit Kariobangi Sharks against Matano’s Tusker at Kasarani.
