Tusker must learn to close out games, warns irked Okere

The FKF-Premier League giants Tusker head coach Charles Okere has rallied his charges to work on their concentration on the pitch if they are to avoid dropping points this season.

Okere says his team lost 3-2 to second-placed Kariobangi Sharks in their last fixture after losing concentration upon scoring their second goal, despite controlling the game for over an hour.

While lauding his charges for holding out well after establishing a two-goal advantage, Okere says they lost their focus before allowing in an easy first goal that gave the Sharks a lifeline with 23 minutes to go.

New signing Ryan Ogam gave Tusker the lead just eight minutes into the match after tapping in a loose ball resulting from Shaphan Siwa’s effort that Sharks keeper Sebastian Wekesa failed to deal with decisively.

Twenty-one minutes later, captain Charles Momanyi headed in a long throw-in from Ugandan import George Kaddu for Tusker’s second.

Substitute Keith Imbali scored the Kariobangi-based club's first goal in the 67th minute, reducing the deficit, and shortly afterward, forward Ali Salim restored parity in the 81st minute before grabbing his second and Sharks’ winner in the stoppage time.

“We scored early into the match. Before they could settle, we added another goal and took control of the match.

“During halftime, I asked my boys to be ruthless in the second half and score more goals, but this did not happen because they became so wasteful and allowed our opponents back into the game after 17 minutes into the second half”, lamented Okere.

‘After conceding the first goal, we started panicking, lost concentration, and conceded the second goal.

“Sadly, we lost, but I am sure we could have gone home with a point. But dropping points after leading 2 – 0 at the stroke of halftime is unacceptable.

“I don’t want to blame an individual for this, but protecting a lead is a collecting responsibility, so I blame the whole team.” He added.

The former Vihiga Queens coach started his tenure at the club with a win after flooring Sofapaka 1 – 0 in the season’s opener a fortnight ago.

This was Okere’s second competitive match since he took over from Robert Matano, who exited the club at the end of last season, to join his former employers Sofapaka with whom he lifted the 2009 Kenyan Premier League title.

The Brewers will face Kakamega Homeboyz at home in the next league fixture slated for Sunday before traveling to Police Sacco stadium to take on Kenya Police, though Okere is optimistic about his team's chances in the two matches.

"Nonetheless, I saw urgency, passion, and hunger from my boys, but sometimes in football, when hard work does not pay, you need to be lucky, and luck was not on our side against Sharks," he concluded.

Currently, Tusker occupies eighth position on the log with three points from two matches.