Furious Shabana coach Sammy Okoth lambasts early penalty conceded in AFC Leopards draw

FKFPL Furious Shabana coach Sammy Okoth lambasts early penalty conceded in AFC Leopards draw

Mark Kinyanjui 16:00 - 03.10.2023

Okoth was unhappy that the large crowd of Shabana fans that turned up to watch the match were not “entertained” enough because of the needless penalty they gave away.

Shabana head coach Sam Okoth has slammed his charges for conceding an early penalty during their 1-1 draw against AFC Leopards in an FKFPL clash played at the Ulinzi Sports Complex on Sunday afternoon.

Shabana conceded an early penalty which was expertly converted by Brian Yakhama in the early stages of the game inside the stadium that had been filled to the brim, but equalized thanks to Peter Ogechi’s bullet header, which effectively left both sides sharing the spoils.

Speaking to the press after the match, Okoth was unhappy that the large crowd that turned up to watch the match were not “entertained” enough because of the needless penalty they gave away. 

“The game was not bad, but there was tension because it is a derby,” Okoth said. “In a derby, everyone has to push himself as much as he can.” he added.

“A derby does not warrant a team conceding a penalty in the opening minutes of the match. It is not good at all because many people turn up in large numbers to come and watch the game as they want to be entertained.

"They want to see goals being scored the right way.”

Okoth did however praise his boys’ work ethic, grit and determination, saying that “they put their best foot forward” according to their capabilities.

"However, on the positive, the boys did well. They put their best foot forward according to their ability and they tried to change things despite the pressure but it is a step forward that we did not concede in the dying minutes like we have been.”

Meanwhile, although Okoth is happy that the side ended its worrying streak of conceding in the last minute, he was frustrated by their profligacy.

“Everytime, we always create chances but never take advantage. If we can defend well considering we have taken a lot of time working on how not to concede oftenly so we have to see now how we can also score.

“In all games we have played, we have created chances but not capitalized on them. We are working on it and hope it will improve gradually.”

Shabana will face Tusker in a crunch fixture in their sixth league game of the season.