Otieno backs 'hurt' Leopards to bounce back

AFC Leopards captain Duncan Otieno has backed his teammates to recover from Wednesday’s embarrassing exit from the Caf Confederation Cup and compete for honours on the local front this season.

In a disappointing outing that piled more pressure on head coach Robert Matano, Leopards were tossed out of the continental tournament by little-known Malagasy side FOSA Juniors courtesy of the away goals rule.

Having settled for a one-all draw in Kakamega in the first leg clash played eleven days ago, Leopards needed to win or at least post a higher scoring draw to progress to the next stage of the competition.

But instead, Ingwe fired blanks in Mahanja with the second leg of preliminary round match ending goalless on Wednesday.

The Kenyan international has however backed the squad to recover from that setback and compete for honours on the local front this term.

"We are hurt by both the performance and result mainly because we had hopes of playing in the later stages of the competition," Otieno told Nation Sport.

"But this is not the end of everything. I am certain we will still have a good season and win something."

'WEAK TEAM'

Leopards received a roasting from all quarters, with sections of the Madagascar media referring to the 13-time Kenyan champions as “weak” team.

"We were waiting for a FOSA Juniors capable of endangering the 'weak' Kenyans but we saw a more defensive side which did not excite the crowd as there were no attacks," the Madagasikara reported.

Following the defeat, Leopards are out of the running to qualify for the group stage of this competition where each of the 16 teams are awarded Sh27.5 million as prize money by the Confederation of African Football. The competition's eventual winner will meanwhile pocket an additional Sh125 million.

There’s little time for Leopards to cry over the exit as they now take on Ulinzi Stars in a Kenyan Premier League match in Thika on Sunday.