Shabana defeat presents vital lessons KImani

AFC Leopards coach Anthony ‘Modo’ Kimani says his team has leant vital lessons from the 1-0 loss suffered in the hands of Shabana in the Mashujaa Cup match staged at the Guii Stadium on Tuesday.

The match was held to mark the Mashujaa Day holiday.

Fred Nyakundi scored the lone goal at the half-hour mark to hand the NSL side the win, the match acting as a pre-season build-up ahead of the new season which is set to kick off in November.

“It was a tough match and we didn’t expect Shabana to defeat us. They kept striking hard until they got the important goal. I can say the match was very crucial for me because I used it to gauge my players though my new players didn’t feature because they have not gotten time to train with others,” said Kimani.

“As we are heading to our 10-day camp in Iten, I will work more on ball distribution and control as they are some of the weak areas I’ve identified from yesterday’s game. I also need to work on all the departments and I believe by the time the league resumes, we’ll be ready to go.”

He went on: “Our camp in Iten will give us good time to gauge our new signings. Currently we have three new players, Harrison Mwendwa and keeper John Oyemba who joined us from Kariobangi Sharks as well as newly acquired Bienvenue Shaka who used to play for Etoile Sportif du Sahel in Tunisia. We chose Iten because it’s a high attitude place with cool whether where players can train well.”

AFC Leopards are set to begin their quest for a 13^th league title against Western Stima at Nyayo Stadium on Friday November 2020 and coach Kimani is optimistic of registering good results.

“It’s long since the team won the title, this time round we are going for it. I believe the support we are getting from our leadership and sponsors will enable us achieve the dream. We are continuing to do some signings before kick-off and I believe the players will do their best.”