Muyoti calls for responsibility from his defenders after Ulinzi draw

Police FC head coach Nicholas Muyoti has blamed his defence after conceding an equalizer from a cross during Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Ulinzi Stars at  in a league match at the Afraha Stadium.

Telena Tele Ochieng scored a brilliant goal in the 51st minute from a cross to cancel Edward Omondi’s opener for Ulinzi, which had seen the defending champions lead 1-0 into the break.

However, Muyoti looked furious at how they conceded, noting that the goal could have been easily avoided.

“We were supposed to close down the player before crossing the ball. Why did we give him the space to cross the ball?” Muyoti questioned, in a post-match interview.

The 49-year old coach called on his players to take more responsibility to avoid similar occurrence in the future.

“It’s high time we learn how to manage the game. We gave Ulinzi too much freedom to play their game which is something I wasn’t impressed with. We can do much better.”

However, the former Nairobi United head coach praised the defending champions’ overall play but urged them to be ruthless in front of goal.

“I’m grateful for the one point we earned. We just need to be more ruthless and utilize the chances we create, we will pick up from there because we had a good game,” said Muyoti.

His counterpart Stephen Ocholla praised his boys’ impressive performance in the second half, coming from a goal down to snatch an important point in the derby.

“A point is better than none and I’m really happy we managed to come from behind to get an equalizer. It has been long since we got positive results. We have picked lessons that will be valuable heading into the next game,” said Ocholla.

Ocholla also called on his boys to be more ruthless in front of goal if they want to win matches.

Ulinzi have not recorded any win this year, picking up two draws and losing two on the bounce; their last win came on 22nd December last year.

Police, on the other side, dropped points in their third match in a row, with their last win coming against Mara Sugar last month, dimming their chances of defending their title.

The draw left the defending champions in sixth place on the log with 30 points, 13 behind leaders Gor Mahia while Ulinzi remained 14th on the log on 18 points, two points clear of the relegation zone.