• AFC Leopards continued with their perfect start to the season with another win as Elvis Rupia's brace sunk debutants Bidco United 2-0 at the Moi Stadium, Kasarani.
• Matano said the team had trained as a unit for a paltry eight days and conceded that his troops were way below their fitness levels.
Experienced Tusker coach Robert Matano rued lack of proper pre-season preparations after playing Bandari to a barren draw in their second match of the 2020/21 Kenyan Premier League season.
The eleven-time champions opened the campaign on the wrong footing after bowing 2-1 to AFC Leopards the eight days ago and were dealt yet another blow in their hunt for another title after sharing spoils with a wasteful dockers side at Utalii grounds.
Matano said the team had trained as a unit for a paltry eight days and conceded that his troops were way below their fitness levels.
He, however, expressed satisfaction with the point gained against a side who fluffed clear-cut chances in the second half.
"We did not have a good pre-season like the rest of the teams in the league due to several issues among them the break occasioned by coronavirus pandemic," said Matano.
"We are now being forced to combine both the league matches and training and I can't blame my players for failing to bag maximum points so far. A draw is not a bad result although we did not have enough punch upfront."
Matano, who downplayed being under pressure for failing to register a win, also defended his fielding after he surprisingly started Luke Namanda, a right-footed winger at the left-back ahead of the duo of Sammy Meja and Hillary Wandera as a way of caging the pacy Bandari forwards.
He praised the former Nzoia Sugar winger for successfully holding brief for two left-backs who all boast of a host of Harambee Stars caps between them.
"It was a tactical approach which worked well. Bandari have pacy wingers and we had to field Namanda to neutralise them and he did it well. I am not under pressure to deliver," he added.
While Matano was delighted with the results, his Bandari counterpart Ken Odhiambo criticised his forwards for wasting scoring chances. The former Stars assistant coach blamed the forward line for lack of composure in front of goal but promised to rectify the mistakes before taking on Nairobi City Stars on Friday.
"We dropped two points today as my strikers squandered chance after chance. They were in a hurry to score and ended up making bad decisions. Our focus turns on the next match and we hope to work on our weak areas before then," he said.
AFC Leopards continued with their perfect start to the season with another win as Elvis Rupia's brace sunk debutants Bidco United 2-0 at the Moi Stadium, Kasarani.
The former Nzoia Sugar man was also on target in their opening match against Tusker.
Elly Asieche also netted a brace to inspire Sofapaka to a 3-1 win over Western Stima at Wundanyi Stadium. Kepha Aswani put the icing on the 2009 champions' cake while Samuel Odhiambo scored the consolation goal for Stima.
Kakamega Homeboyz rallied from a goal down to hold Posta Rangers to a 1-1 draw at the Bukhungu Stadium.