Sofapaka coach Medo Melis has slammed his defence despite opening the 2018/2019 SportPesa Premier League (SPL) campaign with a 2-1 win over his former employers, Mount Kenya United on Sunday in Machakos.
John Avire and Stephen Waruru netted for Batoto ba Mungu before Amani Kyata reduced the deficit with a 75th minute penalty after Boniface Mukhekhe was fouled in the box by Humphrey Okoti.
“I consider it a draw,” said an unhappy Medo. “A good start should’ve been 4-0 but I have a lot of reservations about the game.”
“We created opportunities but we didn’t finish them, first half should’ve been 3-0 then add the fourth goal in the second half had we capitalized on our chances,” added the Egyptian-born turned American coach.
“We committed a few mistakes here and there in defence that we need to rectify. It’s because of poor decision making that we conceded that goal. The defender (Okoti) decided to go for a tackle and decided to step back giving space to the opponent to close in, we’ve to work on a few things, overall, I am not happy.”
His former assistant Anthony Mwangi, now in charge of Mt Kenya United, expressed hope of recovering from the false start.
“I didn’t expect us to play as well like we did. Obviously we wanted a win and a clean sheet but we were unlucky, probably had we got a goal or two from the many chances we had in the first half, it could’ve changed the outcome,” said the former Liberty Sports academy coach.
Mount Kenya featured former Gor Mahia duo of John “Softie” Ndirangu and Anthony Mbugua.
Former Thika United defender Frank Bala and Paul Kamau, who left Kariobangi Sharks last month, are some of the new faces in the team.
Mwangi returned to the side, formerly known as Nakumatt, after the departure of Medo and his assistant Ben Omukuba who crossed over to Sofapaka.
While Mount Kenya host Posta Rangers next Saturday, Sofapaka will be in Narok to welcome Bandari, who got off to a winning start too with a 2-1 result over champions Gor Mahia on Saturday.