A Boniface Muchiri second-half strike was all Tusker needed when the two teams met in the first leg and they will be seeking to do a league double over the Nakuru-based team.Muchiri will be hoping to build on his sublime freekick against Western Stima in their last match and perhaps grab one against Ulinzi as he did earlier in March.They have met 27 times and have struck a balance in their results with Ulinzi winning nine, Tusker eight, and there being 10 draws between the two sides.The last five encounters have been a low-scoring affair with none of the five games seeing more than two goals scored. From the five, three have been draws with Ulinzi and Tusker winning one a-piece.💪| Three important points against a tough opponent. We move. #Brewers4Life pic.twitter.com/vggiWLMYZR— Tusker FC (@tusker_fc) March 5, 2021 While Tusker have the best scoring record in the league so far, having scored 35 goals, Ulinzi have the meanest defence and have conceded only 13 goals.Since 2014, Tusker have not won two on the trot against the Soldiers and they will be seeking to rectify that in this encounter.Tusker’s captain Hashim Sempala says that the team is raring to go and they are only focused on winning this game and play continental football next season.”Everybody is ready for the game. Though it will be a tough game, we are ready to go. There is a bit of pressure but we are determined to put the pressure behind us and go all out. There are those who want to play continental football for the first time, others we want to go back to playing continental football,” Sempala said.The midfielder added that despite Ulinzi being a hard team to crack defensively, they have been training focusing on that, saying that having a coach who has been with their opponent is also an advantage to them.”We know they are tough and they have good players but we will handle them the best way we know. We have been training with our focus on how they play their game, trying to identify areas where we can capitalize. Our coach has previously worked at Ulinzi and he knows them well – we will use the ideas that he has shared with us,” the former Gor Mahia player added.Ulinzi Stars have found their footing since the resumption of football in May and have not lost in the four matches that they have played in that period, winning three and drawing one to make their way up the log to eighth.Brain Birgen, who has been an important piece of Ulinzi’s puzzle this season, says that the morale of the whole team is high ahead of the game against the league leaders.“We have had a good run in the last four matches. This has been a result of hard work and believing in each other. The morale of every in the team starting with the players, the technical bench as well as the management is very high,” Birgen saidBrian Birgen appreciation post;He’s referred as ‘Ndovu’ by team mates for his bravery in tackling. A beast he is in defence and attack with his runs in the flanks, and crosses.This season, he has featured for 90 minutes in all our matches so far 🐘#GBUS #WeSoldierOn pic.twitter.com/cTvR5my2KN— Ulinzi Stars FC (@UlinziStarsFC) January 21, 2021 He also acknowledges that the encounter between the two teams is always a tight affair, noting that they will do their best to spoil the party for Tusker as Ulinzi does not let a team win over them two times in a season.“Our game against Tusker is always a very tight game. Tusker have the pressure ahead of this game and we will try to capitalize on that. The first leg encounter was decided by a very slim margin and we were struggling while they were on top form. We never let any team do a league double over us. We will beat them,” the defender added.Ulinzi Stars will miss on John Kago who is suspended after accumulating five yellow cards while Benard Ongoma is on the verge of suspension should he get booked, same as Kevin Monyi and Sempala for Tusker who have been booked four times.
