Bidco had taken a 2-0 lead before the half time whistle but allowed the visitors to restore parity within the opening twenty minutes of the second half to deny them their eighth win of the season.Kwa mechi ya Tatu mtawalia! Mchezaji bora ametoka Bandari! Haya basi bila kuchelewa, tumpe hongera za dhati kwa Kijana alietamba pale mchikoni. Hongera sana kwa Keegan Ndemi!#BandariNiYetu #MOTM #BKPL pic.twitter.com/BwjVZ2V8o2— Bandari Football Club (@BandariOfficial) July 20, 2021 Akhulia faulted the defence line for conceding from set pieces contrary to his instructions before kick off.”I am disappointed with my players for the manner they let in the two goals. We had won the game at first half but lackadaisical defending allowed our opponents to stage a come back,” he lamented.His Bandari counterpart Andre Casa Mbungo was however impressed with the fighting spirit depicted by his players.”Coming from two goals down to pick a point is no a mean feat. The players showed character and never gave up. We would have won the game had we not lost Magige in the first half as his injury disrupted our plan,” he said.Bandari would have taken the lead in the second minute after Francis Oduor brought Ndemi Keegan down few inches from the box but William Wadri fired straight to the wall.A minute later Bidco reacted to the early scare through David Orem who hit the ball straight to Justin Ndikumana’s hands after Eric Gichimu had squared the ball to his path.Bandari took control of the proceedings but and came closer to opening the scores in 13th minute through Wadri who was put through by Siraj Mohamed but the on-form Ugandan opted to cross the ball rather than to test the exposed Adisa Omar.What was supposed to an harmless ball aimed at finding Gichimu earned Bidco a penalty in the 26th minute after the pacy Alex Keke caught Siraj who was escorting the ball out for a goal kick and set it to Orem who was roaming freely in the box.Sprinting to block the former Wazito man from pulling the trigger, Dennis Magige who was arguably the outstanding player caught him by the ankle compelling the whistler to point to the spot. Centre back Anthony Simasi stepped up four minutes later after both Magige and Orem received treatment to send Ndikumana the wrong way to give Bidco the lead.Bandari made their first change at the stroke of half an hour as the heavily bandaged Magige paved way for the experienced Collins Agade.The exit of Magige appeared to have weakened Bandari’s midfield leaving Bidco to call the shots for the remainder of the half.A defence splitting pass from Zachary Gathu saw Keke who was lively on the left wing beat a on rushing Ndikumana from close range to double Bidco’s advantage.Bandari made their first change before restart as Mbungo threw in Darius Msagha for Benjamin Mosha who was largely ineffective in the first half.Second half The visitors halved the deficit in in the 49th minute when Umaru Kasumba rose high to head in a freekick delivered by Abdallah Hassan.The goal injected impetus in the Bandari forward forcing Akhulia to introduce the trio of Lambert Oyuga, Stephen Okiro and Stephen Waruru for Orem, Keke and David Gateri in the 57th minute.No sooner had the youthful coach rung the change than his right back David Kalama was sent off for a dangerous tackle on Keegan.The dockers leveled matters in the 63rd minute through Wadri who sent Omar the wrong way from the spot after Geoffrey Gitau had scythed Kasumba down.Bandari were also reduced to ten in the 73rd minute after Kasumba was red carded for a high boot challenge on Francis Oduor. The Ugandan had attempted a bicycle kick only for his studs to land on Oduor’s head in the full glare of the referee.
