Posta Rangers plan more misery for Tusker

Posta Rangers will look to ease their penalty pain when they travel to Tusker FC on Sunday for their second Kenyan Premier League (KPL) match of the season.

Posta had only themselves to blame as they were held to a 1-1 draw by AFC Leopards in their season opener thanks to Kennedy Otieno’s penalty miss in the second half and will be desperate for atonement at the Ruaraka Grounds.

Head coach Sammy ‘Pamzo’ Omollo said he is confident his side will pick themselves up and that his new stars will play with better coordination having trained for an extra week together.

“We did many signings over the transfer period and you saw we fielded a good number of players in our season opener. My summary is they played well and we have a stronger squad than last season.

“We therefore need to work hard and exploit that depth. I’m confident against Tusker we will be better than we were against Leopards, after another week of training together. It means getting a win after the draw,” Pamzo said.

Suleiman Ngotho, Luke Ochieng, Luis Khamadi, Danson Kago and Jeremiah Wanjala are among the newcomers who featured in the match and all earned praise from the tactician.

Pamzo says despite roping in 11 new players over the January transfer window, he has already established his first team.

“It is always a challenge to coaches when you have around two to three good players contesting for the same areas, but so far I have known my first team which is very important,’’ he stated.

Dressing room disquiet 

Tusker, who slumped to a 2-0 defeat to Chemelil Sugar in their season opener, will be keen to avert another setback as head coach Sam Timbe prepares to make his home bow.

“We made mistakes (against Chemelil) but we shall work on them. What we have practiced in training is not what we displayed but we won’t give up,” the Ugandan tactician underscored.

Away from the pitch, the Brewers are also fighting to keep away growing reports of dressing room disquiet with rumours claiming assistant coach Francis Baraza said to have been booted out.

Meanwhile, champions Gor Mahia and Leopards will be out of the KPL action as they will be representing the country in the CAF Champions League and Confederations Cup respectively.

Leopards entertain Fosa Juniors of Madagascar on Sunday at the Bukhungu Stadium Kakamega, a day after Gor’s clash against Equitorial Guinea’s Leones Vegetarionos at the Kenyatta Staium in Machakos.

Other KPL pairings will see newbies Bandari FC lork horns with Chemelil in Mombasa, Sofapaka versus Kakamega Homeboyz in Mumias, Nakumatt FC with Thika United as last season’s second runners up Kariobangi Sharks face welcome newbies Vihiga United at in Machakos.

The 2008 champions Mathare United have a date with Nzoia Sugar while Sony Sugar closes the round two weekend fixtures against Ulinzi Stars.