Kakamega Homeboyz head coach Patrick Odhiambo reckons his charges have finally found their winning touch in the Kenyan Premier League.
A talent-laden Homeboyz secured a vital 2-0 victory over Muhoroni Youth at Muhoroni Stadium in Kisumu on Sunday to rise to eighth on the standings and back into title contention.
“I believe we are finally getting our act together. We had a slow start to the season but I’m glad we have all that behind us now,” Odhiambo remarked.
He attributed their earlier struggles in the competition to congested fixtures.
Odhiambo said he has now resolved to rotate his players as he seeks to leverage on their performance with sights firmly trained on a maiden KPL title.
“The camp had been plagued by fatigue owing to congested fixtures that drained our players and cost us points in our earlier games,” Odhiambo stated after unleashing a second-string squad against Muhoroni.
“We finally have an answer to the problem, to rotate the squad, because I believe there is enough depth to do so with much success.”
“I wish to extol the players who put up a good fight on Sunday. Their performance shows that we have a rich reserve squad that can respond effectively when called upon,” he stated
“The win comes on the back of a series of lukewarm results and you can only imagine what it means for the lads. There is finally some measure of confidence heading into our upcoming matches, something that was lacking before Sunday’s victory,” said Odhaimbo.
Homeboyz face bottom-placed Sofapaka at Bukhungu Stadium on Friday.
Meanwhile, Ulinzi Stars head coach Anthony ‘Modo’ Kimani says they have to move on quickly from Sunday’s loss to 10-man Bidco United and start preparations for Saturday’s forces derby against Police FC.
The soldiers who were coming from a 1-0 win over Tusker FC and a 4-0 thrashing of Shabana, fell to Chris Opondo’s 47th-minute strike. The physical encounter at Ulinzi Sports Complex saw Bidco’s John Owira sent off in the 85th minute after a second bookable offence.
Modo blamed the loss on poor marking of spaces by his players, which gave his opponents room to drive in their final third and launch quick counterattacks.
“It was a balanced affair but we started the second half poorly. They caught us flat-footed with a quick counter which ended at the back of the net,” said Kimani.
He said they are not under any pressure heading into Saturday’s confrontation with Police, who drew 0-0 with Gor Mahia on Sunday. Instead, Kimani will focus on rectifying their mistakes before Saturday’s duel.
The soldiers are ninth on the table after 10 matches — won four drawn one and lost five.
Kimani’s counterpart, Antony Akhulia, hailed his players for holding onto the three points but warned against being carried away by the result, which moved them to fourth with 17 points.
“Despite keeping a clean sheet against giants Gor Mahia and beating Ulinzi in their backyard, there is nothing to celebrate yet because we have not even played half the fixtures,” said Akhulia
He said he is happy with their brand of entertaining football but there is a need to kill off games with more goals from the numerous chances they create.
