Tusker drowning in murky waters

It's worrying times at Tusker, with the club navigating through a month since winning its last win in the SportPesa Premier League game.

That triumph was away to Zoo Kericho on February 10.

Since then, the brewers have conspired to lose against Kakamega Homeboyz, Nzoia Sugar, Gor Mahia and most recently, at the hands of AFC Leopards.

Had head coach Robert Matano masterminded wins in these four outings, the brewers would currently sit pretty at the top of the 18-team log.

Instead, the side is currently sixth on the standings at the half-way point of the 2018/2019 league season, seven points behind table-toppers Bandari.

Worse, Saturday's 2-1 loss to Ingwe at the Kenyatta Stadium in Machakos came a day after club chairman David Aduda announced the team had opted out of the 2018/2019 FKF SportPesa Shield so as 'to concentrate all efforts on the league title charge'.

So as things are, the chances of playing continental football next season are getting slimmer by each passing day.

"We deserved to lose this game," Tusker coach Robert Matano surprisingly admitted in his post-match comments.

"We should have scored atleast three goals with the chances we had in the first half and in the second half we played loosely and gifted them all the goals."

Thankfully, Matano has eight days to regroup and motivate his charges before their next league fixture against Ulinzi Stars.

Meanwhile, Tusker loss proved Leopards' gain as Congolese Wayi Yeka and youngster Vincent Oburu scored the goals to help Rwandan coach Andre Casa Mbungo pick his successive win on the log.

"The players are slowly adapting to my philosophy. When I arrived, the fitness levels were wanting and we had several injuries and we were short of confidence. This shows we have a lot of things to work on and still have a long way to go," says Mbungo, whose team will face Sofapaka in Kakamega on Wednesday.

The Big Cats were lucky to win this fixture as Tusker should have been three goals in the first 10 minutes, coupled with a red card to Isaac Kipyegon.

Crucially, Leopards have now jumped from 16th to 14th following this result.

In other results, Bandari's title charge faltered following an unexpected loss to Ulinzi Stars in Nakuru as KCB managed a 2-1 win over Nzoia Sugar in a mid-table contest.

Sony Sugar were also 1-0 winners over basement club Mount Kenya United, who seem real relegation candidates.