Mombasa County boys’ head coach Swaleh Ali believes they possess the mojo to storm the title of the inaugural Talanta Hela Under-19 national finals.
The gaffer, who doubles up as the Harambee Stars beach ball tactician, spoke after guiding his charges to a convincing 2-0 victory over West Pokot in an enticing Group ‘B’ encounter at Moi Stadium, Kasarani on Monday.
Idari Tyrese fired Mombasa into the lead with a rasping shot in the 82nd minute before Abdalla Abdullatif hammered the final nail into West Pokot’s casket in the fifth minute of added time.
“I’m very delighted the first outing has yielded a positive result. The outcome has given us an edge heading into the next match against Kirinyaga,” Swaleh said.
Swaleh, nonetheless, lauded their opponents for giving them a run for their money in the closely contested encounter.
“West Pokot have a good team; they are fit but it’s all about chances. We took our chances and utilised them well and that’s what won us the game,” he added.
The tactician, however, warned his charges not to be complacent despite their flying start in the tournament. “It’s a different ball game at the national level because the regional championships had different kinds of opponents.
“The competition is very stiff at the nationals because everyone is gunning for the title. I watched Vihiga play against Homabay and both teams gave a good account of themselves. But we are all here to compete and we shall do our best to clinch the title,” he said.
West Pokot head coach Elvis Rotich admitted they had a bad day in office, but vowed to fire his charges back into contention with a better performance in their subsequent ties.
“I believe we shall come back better and stronger in our next match. We’ve just slipped a little bit but we are not entirely down. I expect a much better performance going forward,” Rotich remarked. Rotich said he would smooth out the rough edges he observed in their tie against Mombasa.
“I took note of the mistakes we committed in the game and all the chances that we missed which ultimately ended up hounding us.
“But generally we had a fair game and all the departments worked hard. We shall be going for maximum points in our next match against Marsabit,” he added
