AFC Leopards have spring to their walk

In the days leading to last year’s return tie between AFC Leopards and Gor Mahia, not many Ingwe fans were convinced that their boys could put up a fight.

The team was in tatters, depleted, unprepared, demotivated, broke, hungry and disinterested. The boys had gone without pay for months and were surviving on handouts from sympathetic fans.

On the day of the match, the boys were told by the club’s hierarchy to assemble at the Kenya Cinema at 10 am for a pre-match meeting followed by lunch before heading to Nyayo Stadium for the derby.

All of them honoured the call, arriving at the appointed place on time, ready for the pre-match pep talk and more importantly, lunch. The meeting did take place, but there was no lunch, the management could simply not afford it so the team headed to Nyayo hungry and demoralised.

The boys though put up a good fight and were only undone by a boardroom decision awarding K’Ogalo the match on grounds that Ingwe fans had caused the abandonment protesting a penalty call.

Circumstances are much different going into this weekend’s derby. Ingwe has a whole new team, save for goalkeeper Lucas Indeche, defender Eric Masika, striker Lamine Diallo and midfielder Jumaan Khalid.

FITNESS LEVELS

Ingwe has a sponsor too, unlike last season. The new boys, led by vastly experienced quartet of Clifford Miheso, Allan Kateregga, Andrew Tololwa and Kepha Aswani have hit the ground running, winning two of their three opening matches and drawing one.

The newcomers, led by Ugandan import Yakub Ramadhan, centre back Eugene Ambulwa, defensive midfielder Bernard Ongoma and teenage prodigy Simon Abuko have acquainted themselves well too, displaying maturity well beyond their age and experience.

The shoe is on the other foot, it would appear. The 2016 K’Ogalo is yet to win a single match this season, having lost to Bandari by a solitary goal during the KPL Super Cup. On the league front, Gor is yet to win a single match, having drawn all their three opening ties against Chemelil, Posta Rangers and Ulinzi and found the net only once.

More ominously, there is talk of a divided dressing room, evidenced by the bust-up between first choice goalkeeper Boniface Oluoch and coach Frank Nuttall during the club’s first leg tie against Madagascar’s CNaPS last month. As a result, Bonnie has been frozen out of the first team and replaced by veteran Jerim Onyango.

Yet on paper still, Gor goes to this match as the favourites, on account of the sheer number of experienced players within their ranks. Jerim Onyango, Karim Nizigiyimana, Abouba Sibomana, Musa Mohamed, Harun Shakava, Godfrey Walusimbi, Collins Okoth, Francis Kahata, George Odhiambo, Enoch Agwanda, Jacob Keli and Khalid Aucho have all played at the highest level, bagging the KPL title on more than one occasion.

The common denominator between the two teams lies in fitness levels. In all their matches, Gor has struggled in the second half, especially against Bandari, Posta Rangers and Ulinzi. Nuttall has been forced to bench the likes of Sibomana and Nizigiyimana due to lack of fitness.

Ingwe too has shown worrying signs of unfitness, especially against Bandari when they were forced to sit deep and defend their one goal lead for the better part of the second half.

Of the two teams, Leopards has demonstrated better fighting spirit, twice coming from behind to win a match (against Sony) or force a draw (against Mathare). Gor on the other hand has conceded at the death against Posta Rangers, not a very good indicator of one’s fighting spirit.

All this give Ingwe a firm edge going into the derby, all factors remaining constant.

Players to watch: Ingwe – Indeche, Miheso, Kateregga, Aswani, Abuko.

K’Ogalo – Jerim, Walusimbi, Aucho, Kahata, Keli.