NSL experience working wonders for Commandos in FEASSSA

Record Kenyan football champions Kakamega High School began their hunt for the 2018 East African title in style as they defeated Blessed Sacrament Kimanya 3-0 in their opener on Monday, Musanze in Rwanda.

The Green Commandos raced to a 2-0 first half lead thanks to goals from Henry Atola and Alpha Onyango before Evans Odhiambo put the result beyond doubt with a fine strike in the second half.

It was an even encounter but Kakamega were simply more clinical than the Ugandan champions who opened their FEASSSA campaign with a 2-1 victory over hosts CIP Muhanga on Sunday.

Large spells of the match were marked by wild challenges with Kakamega Coach Brendan Mwinamo saying his side’s experience in the National Super League (NSL) helped them withstand their opponent’s physicality.

“The boys will be okay after this. For them it is a normal match because they play in the National Super League and if they move on from there they can get the results they want.

“We could still do better than this; the first match is always difficult because you don’t know your opponents. It’s important now that we work to improve on the scores,” Mwinamo told Citizen Digital.

His counterpart Brian Ssenyondo was gracious in defeat, paying credit to Kakamega for a ‘wholly deserved victory’ while taking aim at his charges for approaching the match casually.

“I think they had a wonderful game today; they showed maturity, calmness and composure and they never got off the driving seat all through. I don’t think we deserved even a point from this match and that tells you how awful we were,” Ssenyondo said.

Kakamega fed off a defensive error to open the scoring as Atola latched onto Moses Kakoola’s failed clearance to make it 1-0 with an assured finish past George Ssemakula.

Onyango made it 2-0 from the spot after Donato Okello was penalised for bringing down Rowland Ashimoto inside the area before Odhiambo rounded off the scoring with a placed shot inside Ssemakula’s far right.

Olbolsat – who lost to Kakamega in the national final – got off to a foul start when they went down 1-0 to Lycee De Kigai (LDK) in the Boys’ preliminaries opener at the Ubworoherane Stadium.

LDK’s Ndabaramiye Shukran scored the all-important goal on the stroke of half time as the hosts seized early control of Pool A.

Nyirinkindi Saleh enjoyed a sensational afternoon at the Ubworoherane Stadium and capped the afternoon performance with a fine assist for Shukran who simply had the job of rolling the ball into a gaping net.