Harambee Stars internationals in Eric Johana and Joseph Okumu recorded different fortunes in their team’s respective matches played on Wednesday night. While Johanna’s Swedish second tier club Jonkoping Sodra lost their two match winning streak as they went down in defeat, Okumu’s Belgian outfit KAA Gent got off their Uefa Europa Conference League campaign off to the perfect start. Here is a wrap of how the action unfolded.Eric JohanaNamed in the starting eleven of the matchday squad, the former Mathare United player featured for the full length of the game as his Jonkopings side fell to a 2-0 defeat at the hands of league leaders Varnamo in a match played at the Finnvedsvallen Stadium.pic.twitter.com/01evOW3Aba— Jönköpings Södra IF (@JSodra) September 16, 2021 With nothing to separate the two sides until the 75th minute, Varnamo scored two goals in the last quarter of an hour to walk away with three points and open a three gap at the top of the table.Victor Eriksson was the first to strike for the hosts in the 77th minute before Edvin Becirovic sealed the three points with a second strike in the third minute of added injury time.Following the defeat that ended the club’s two match winning streak, Jonkopings find themselves in 7th place, nine points behind the leaders who got back to winning ways after a defeat before their latest win.
Joseph OkumuDespite being included in the travelling squad, the centre back was an unused substitute as his Gent side kickstarted their Conference League group B games.In his absence and on foreign territory, the team got off to the perfect start as a solitary strike from Darko Lemajic in the 54th minute earned the Belgian side all the three points in their group opener against Estonia’s Flora in a match played at A. Le Coq Arena in Tallin.