Alumira sets sights on Cecafa after league miss

After failing to clinch the Women Premier League (WPL) title for the successive fourth season, Vihiga Queens head coach Alex Alumira believes his charges must learn from their mistakes ahead of the Cecafa Club Championship cum CAF Women’s Champions League Zonal qualifiers next month in Nairobi.

Vihiga Queens failed to defend the league title they have won in the last three seasons after suffering a 5-4 defeat to Gaspo in a post-match shootouts during the playoff semifinals at the Nakuru ASK Showgrounds on June 25.

Thika Queens defeated Gaspo Women 3-0 in the playoff final in Nakuru last Sunday to be crowned new champions. Thika had won the league unbeaten after winning all their games. They won Zone A with 42 points followed by Gaspo with 29 points.

Speaking to Citizen Digital, the immediate champions’ gaffer Alumira said he was disappointed by her side’s league loss but he added that they will make amends against their opponents in the Cecafa Championship due on July 17.

“It’s so painful to lose the title this season after a three-year dominance. For sure, my players gave it all but Gaspo were very tough more so in their defence. They were playing from behind and that made it difficult for my strikers to find the net.

“Be as it may, I still have issues with the center referee of our match against Gaspo, he wasn’t fair at all, the penalty which was awarded to Gaspo in normal time cancelling our 1-0 lead should not have stood. There was no any contact between two players involved. The decision for sure derailed us and I think that’s where we lost control of the game” said Alumira.

“We accept that this season wasn’t ours but we have now shifted focus to the upcoming Cecafa club championship in earnest which will double up as qualification for the inaugural CAF Women Club Champions League to be held in Morocco later this year.”

Morocco, who were earlier named the host of the expanded 12-nation 2022 Africa Women’s Cup of Nations in January, will also host the first-ever women’s club championship on the continent later in year.