Kenya Police head coach Salim Babu has lavished praise on his charges for putting up a valiant fight to see off Nzoia Sugar 2-0 at the Police Sacco Stadium on Sunday.
The law enforcers toiled indefatigably to squeeze out a sweet victory from the Bungoma-based Sugar millers in front of a passionate home crowd that broke into song and dance moments after centre referee Abdi Kadir blew the full-time whistle.
It was another heart-wrenching experience for Nzoia who were condemned to their 12th defeat in as much as 19 matches, leaving them gasping for air in the red zone of the cut-throat topflight competition.
South Sudan international Tito Okello was the toast for Police, unleashing two quick-fire rockets in the 36th and 40th minutes that devoured the ship of their opponents.
“I can’t find enough words to thank the boys for a job perfectly executed. We deserved this victory and could even have won by a larger margin,” Babu remarked.
“We can’t say the win was a walk in the park given the status of our opponents in the league. At this point in the league, the bottom-placed sides are the most dangerous to encounter because they are fighting tooth and nail for survival,” he added.
Despite the outcome reigniting their remote hopes of a maiden title contention, Babu insists it is still too early in the competition to savour their chances of laying claim to the coveted silverware.
“Of course, our main target like any other side in the league is to clinch the title at the end of the season but I still think it is too early to have such a discussion. We intend to take each match at a time and secure as many points as we possibly can,” Babu added.
As Babu extolled his talent-laden squad for a splendid performance, his opposite number at Nzoia Biko Otere expressed utter disappointment after kicking off his reign on a losing note, having just replaced Godfrey ‘Solo’ Otieno who was suspended earlier in the week.
“We are already fighting relegation and the loss just worsened the situation. We are looking forward to an improved performance in our subsequent matches,” Otere said.
“It’s high time the players realised the gravity of this problem and worked as a team to help the club maintain its top-flight status next season. It would pain a lot to see us demoted to the lower tier,” he added.
In other matches, AFC Leopards collected their third consecutive win after stunning high-flying city rivals Nairobi City Stars 2-0 at Bukhungu Stadium in Kakamega.
Bidco United walloped Talanta 5-3 in a high-scoring eight-goal thriller at Thika Stadium
