| Coach Odhiambo Reflects On NCS Draw With Mathare |
| Written by Andrew Crawford |
 Having had time to reflect on the thrilling but ultimately frustrating game for Nairobi City Stars on Sunday, Coach Odhiambo put some time aside to discuss his thoughts on the 2-2 draw, where NCS twice took the lead only to be pegged back by their opponents, Mathare United.
‘I’m not very happy. I thought we had three points but we blew out chances. We gave them gifts and they scored. We played some positive football in the first half but we kept on inviting pressure on ourselves with silly passes. The team stuck to the plan 50% of the time and the other 50%, they didn’t do exactly as they were supposed to and it cost us.
Yet positives can still be taken from the performance, such as the effectiveness of the 4-5-1 formation that Odhiambo had been fine-tuning in preseason as well as the performance of some of the new signings to the Stars.
‘Kevin Nyongesa in particular stood out’, admits Odiambo, who alongside Francis Thairu, provided a hard working, muscular platform in the centre from which the creative energies of the NCS attacking players could be deployed. ‘He was confident and not afraid of anything; he knew exactly what he was doing’.
Odhiambo was also full of praise for fellow new signing, Tony Otieno, whose physicality caused the Mathare defence countless problems when he came off the bench in the second half. ‘I knew the exact time to use him’, said Odhiambo on the burly forward, whose sheer presence was vital in sucking in defenders and buying David Gateri enough time and space to slam home the second NCS goal. ‘The Mathare defence was getting tired and Tony is so big and fast; he was always going to make something happen’.
Yet aside from the good performances and the new formation, the other main talking point will be the two red cards given to Thairu and Jimmy Bageya, and Odhiambo did not shy away from speaking his mind on the issue.
“I’m hoping these will our last red cards of this season. I couldn’t believe what I saw and we will address the lack of discipline because those players decided to give away the game. What happened out there was not football”.
With the first game of the KPL season now out of the way, and with the lid lifted on the potential of the City Stars roster, Odhiambo will now return to focusing his players on the upcoming game away to Sony Sugar.
The NCS coach will want to return to Nairobi from the potential banana skin fixture with three points rather than one next Monday and will be expecting a better all-round performance than the swaggering but error strewn performance his players put in against Mathare. |
