"I'm sorry", Leopards coach Trucha apologises to fans after Mashemeji derby defeat to Gor

AFC Leopards head coach Tomas Trucha has apologised to the teams’ fans for the ‘painful’ 1-0 defeat suffered at the hands of traditional rivals Gor Mahia in the 95^th Mashemeji derby match played at the Nyayo National Stadium on Sunday.

The defeat completed Gor’s double against Leopards who had only lost once this year against Tusker FC on March 10 after a fine form that saw them climb up to eighth after months of dancing around the relegation red-zone last year.

The first leg ended in a 2-0 win for  K’Ogalo.

In the well-attended match, Trucha opined that his troops should have rewarded the Ingwe fans who turned up in large numbers with victory especially against a 10-man K’Ogalo side.

“Mixture of feelings because I believe that today [Sunday] was the chance to get the points considering that the red card in the first half condemning them (Gor Mahia) to play one man less about 55 minutes.

In our quality we should have scored a goal but that didn’t materialize and I want to apologise to our fans who came in numbers…,” said Trucha.

The Czech Republic national thinks Ingwe players should have done more to at least force a draw when they are playing a one-man less opponent after goalkeeper Kevin Omondi received a straight red card for fouling danger man Victor Omune to deny him a goal-scoring opportunity.

“Yes, that was a nice game if you are from outside but for us it is very painful because we should have done more in finishing and creating chances, we should have been more hungry and scored goals.

Especially when you are playing a team with 10 players only I feel we should have done more so this is how I feel now,” Trucha stated.

Trucha who was overseeing his first ever Mashemeji derby maintains the match was a fifty-fifty affair before Omondi’s sending off, but he feels the tide thereafter could have birthed several goals in either side of the net.

 “I feel like the game was fifty-fifty in the first half until the red card which twisted everything. We had chances through Miheso (Clifford) and they also should have scored through Austin (Odhiambo) who had a clear chance.

Then of course the red card changed the game. So if you check on the (Leopards) results it has been 1-0, 1-1 which I feel we should now start scoring four, five goals going forward,” he concluded.

The win left Gor nine points clear at the top on 57 points, while Ingwe are eighth on 38 points. Police [48], Tusker [46], and Bandari[45], are second, third and fourth respectively.

Leopards will next host Compel FC in the FKF Cup quarters to be played on Sunday before hosting Bandari FC the following weekend in the league.