Chemelil, Bandari ready for mid-week KPL clash

Chemelil Sugar Head Coach, Francis Baraza, says his team is ready to face Bandari FC when the two teams meet in a mid-week Kenya Premier League (KPL) clash to be staged at the Afraha Stadium, Nakuru.

Under his tutelage, the club has shot to sixth position on the log, 10 points from the League leaders, Tusker FC.

“We have had a few days to prepare and Bandari is an equally good competitor. We are not going to sit back; we’ll attack and fight hook and crook to get early goals,” said Baraza.

“When I took over at the club, our main target was to make sure we remain in the league despite seven of our players suffering injuries at that time.”

When the two teams met in May, David Ojuang cancelled David Kingatua’s opener to force a 1 – 1 draw.

“Before the game, we had approached KPL to have the match postponed as the squad was a little bit exhausted but they refused and I’ll be forced to rotate my squad to give some of my players a chance to rest,” added the tactician.

Bandari’s coach, Ken Odhiambo – who took over from Twahir Muhiddin on an interim basis in May – says his side is ready for the sugar millers’ challenge.

“We have prepared well and we will approach the Chemelil game as we have been approaching the other games. We are taking every game as a final because everyone wants to go at the top of the table.”

“We respect each team, we are not underrating or fearing any other club. As per our game plan, we want to finish among the top five,” he added.

The GOTV champions dimmed Gor Mahia’s hopes of bringing their faltering title charge back on track over the weekend after they forced them to a barren draw and are optimistic to better this performance when they face Chemelil.

The club’s top scorers, Kingatua and Roy Andrew Waiswa, are set to lead the offensive while the Coast-based side will be relying on former K’Ogalo and 2014 KPL top scorer Dan Sserenkuma to lead the attack.

“Dan has been doing his job and in our organization, he doesn’t need to score to prove that he has been performing. His work is to create goals for the other forwards and in our previous games, he has been getting a few assists,” Odhiambo noted.

Bandari have so far accumulated 27 points.