Coast Stima fight on bravely despite financial quagmire

Coast Stima tactician Hussein Madaga says his side is yet to hit top-gear despite their weekend heroics in which they edged out high-flying Football Club Talanta by a narrow 1-0 margin at the Mbaraki Sports ground in a lunchtime kick-off.

Stima’s triumph shocked the National Super League (NSL) given their financial quagmire that has limited their training sessions lately, and a series of nagging injuries to first-team players.

Madaga feels they should have scored more against Talanta but attributes their profligacy in front of goal to lack of training time, a phenomenon that has been necessitated by financial problems.

“We played a good game against one of the sides that are doing well this year. I could not ask my players to do more than they did on Saturday given the circumstances we are in at the moment.”

Their journey to Kisumu to face Kisumu Hot Stars in their next weekend fixture seems to be a daunting one given their situation, and he hopes stakeholders and well wishers will chip in to facilitate their travel to avoid dishing out free points to their opponents.

“At the moment we are open to any aid from anyone who is willing to help us. We are surviving as you can see and we do not want to give walkovers,” he appealed.

The Mbaraki Sports grounds based wide ascended to fifth on the NSL log following their victory over Talanta.

His opposite number Ken Kenyatta blamed harsh weather on their failure to replicate their dazzling form from their previous meeting that has seen them rank second on the log after six wins and a draw from their opening ten games.

“We need to be realistic which the circumstances that surround any game. For our case I feel there was no need for the fixture to be played at noon when instead of the evening since there are no other games on the same venue.

“My players tried their best but they were curtailed by the harsh weather at the coast,” he lamented.

“It is the same case with other teams from upcountry as they struggle to get results here given the harsh weather.

His side will hope to forget their latest setback when they host APS Bomet at Ruaraka grounds on Saturday should they manage to get a result.

For Soy United manager Samuel Oti Tuago, the  victory against veterans Shabana could not have come a better time after losing some of his key players in the transfer window.

He asserts the team will have to reinforce heavily following the loss of their marquee marksman Kingsley who left for Kakamega Homeboyz.

“We will be active in the market to find quality players that can improve us across all departments. Kingsley is one of the players we will be looking to replace because he helped us a great deal.

Shabana head coach Joseph Ongoro termed their loss as a stern reminder of the work they have to do if they are to be deemed as title contenders this season.

“It is definitely not the result we wanted but we have to accept it and move on quickly.We need to act urgently or else our season objectives will become elusive.”

NSL Weekend Results

APS Bomet 2-2 Kibera Black Stars

Muranga Seal 1-0 Kisumu Hot Stars

Soy United 2-1 Shabana

Sony Sugar 2-1 Modern Coast Rangers

Fortune Sacco 2-2 MCF

Silibwet 1-0 Kenya Police

Mwatate United 3-2 Mt Kenya United

Coast Stima 1-0 FC Talanta

Vihiga Bullets 2-1 Migpri Youth