Mathare United head coach Frank Ouna has lauded the crucial impact his veteran members of the squad have played in helping the 2008 Kenyan champions evade the cusps of relegation from the Football Kenya Federation Premier League.After staying in the bottom two relegation places for the entire season, the slum boys only managed to get themselves out of the drop zones for the first time in the campaign with one game left before the season wrapped up after recording five wins in six games.In that rejuvenated period, goalkeeper David Okello and striker Clifford Alwanga were introduced as the team got into the business end of fighting relegation. It is those two players who the former Wazito tactician pinpointed as example for providing much needed experience that largely contributed to the team’s survival.“It was all down to the players, we have a good mixture of youth and experience and this helped in a big way especially during this final stretch. I can pinpoint David Okello and Clifford Alwanga who didn’t play much this season but came up big for us in this last few games. They have a wealth of experience and it showed,” he is quoted in an interview on the club’s portal.Heading into their last game of the season against Western Stima, Mathare did not have pressure of relegation as it was mathematically impossible for an already relegated Stima and second last Vihiga United to surmount the point difference.That lack of pressure showed as they recorded their biggest win of the season with Alwanga bagging a brace in the 2-5 rout over Stima in Kisumu. For next season, the coach hopes to avoid flirting with danger as they did for a majority of the just concluded campaign.“Of course the plan is not to be in the same place next season. Mathare United is a club that deserves to be fighting for the title and not to be fighting for safety. The good thing now is that next season is going to kick off almost immediately so there will be minimal rust with the players. These final games have served also as our pre-season for the next campaign,” he added.
