Tusker head coach Robert Matano pegged the loss on an injury ravaged squad and explained his decision to withdraw Clyde Senaji after just 30 minutes of play.”The problem is about injuries we had six or seven injuries and had no fit strikers but we will regroup and come back strongly. We picked about three injuries against Gor Mahia in the Super Cup,” “Senaji had an injury but we just fielded him. A number of our midfielders have injuries and this is a makeshift team. Shami played as a striker and he is not a striker. The solution is just to have our players who are injured return to fitness,” said Matano.AFC Leopards assistant coach Tom Juma was delighted with the win and opened up on the tradition of promoting young players to the senior team as they currently serve the transfer ban.”I thank God for the win and also the players. We really psyched them up for the game and I’m happy with the result because beating the defending champions is not easy,””We have looked at the areas that need improving and will work on that ahead of the next game. We have a culture of promoting youth players to the senior team like Austin and Maxwell and I hope the young players will come of age,” said Juma.Following a mass exodus of first team players AFC Leopards still had the luxury of fielding a decent squad on paper with only custodian Maxwell Mulili, Dan Sunguti and Brian Wanyama not being household names at the club but the latter two featured predominantly in the tail end of last season.Robert Matano on the other hand had a plethora of quality players to pick from as Shami Kibwana, Daniel Sakari, Eric Zakayo and Apollo Otieno the changes from Wednesday’s Super Cup triumph over Gor Mahia.AFC Leopards started the game like a house on fire, putting away their off field issues as newly assembled Tusker side struggled for rhythm in the game as Ingwe mounted wave after wave of attack.It took just eight minutes for Ingwe to rattle the upright as Saad Musa threaded in a neat through ball from his own half to Peter Thiong’o who had acres of space ahead of him but he was denied by the crossbar as Jimmy Mbugua recovered to clear the ball.The chance was an advertisement of what was to come as the same combination gave birth to the opener with Thiong’o laying off the ball to Musa whose first time shot found the inside of the upright but the bounce was kind as it trickled inside the net in the 19th minute.Tusker’s first chance of the game came in the 23rd minute when Eric Zakayo fed Clyde Senaji who was subdued but he could not keep his effort down as his shot was blazed over the bar.Matano who was unimpressed with proceedings threw in Humphrey Mieno for Senaji who was a bystander in the opening 30 minutes.Tusker were rattled by the horror show in the opening 30 minutes as Matano was reduced to barking instructions from the touchline but the fell on deaf ears as the Brewers failed to muster any meaningful chances, going into the half break trailing 1-0.Matano rung the chances at the start of the second half bringing in Kevin Monyi, Jackson Macharia and Rodgers Ouma for Erick Zakayo, Shami Kibwana and John Njuguna.Tusker resumed the half a much rejuvenated side with the changes adding some impetus to the game as Jackson Macharia came close to leveling proceedings in the 57th minute when Rodgers Ouma delivered cross but the former Thika United midfielder’s header sailed just wide off the mark.AFC were put under the cosh and cracked under the immense pressure with Lewis Bandi conceding a cheap penalty, bringing down Muchiri in the 62nd minute.The former Sony Sugar midfielder stepped up to take the penalty but could not hold his keep his cool as his penalty went wide much to the frustration of the Tusker bench.Tusker could not just find a cool head in the final third as they squandered a number of chances with Macharia being the main culprit as AFC Leopards were hanging by a thread but that is all they needed to start the season with a bang.
