Excellence is a habit that winning teams aim to maintain. That was true for the men’s football team, SUFC this past weekend when they visited Toi primary school grounds in Kibra to duel with Uweza FC. With a winning momentum from previous matches, SUFC was confident that they were in the right headspace to win this game.

Uweza FC’s home ground advantage makes it tough to take away points from them. With support from the loyal home fans who crowd games in masses, Kibra has become a fortress that the team has made impenetrable. However, our team was able to identify the cracks in the team. Their possession-based game was played with ease, without much hurry and pressure. Patient build-up was the key to winning the game.

The game started on a high tempo, courtesy of our winger’s ability to feast on the unsettled nerves of the opponents and the space they left behind them. Mwangashi Sam and Johny were playing out wide for us, supporting striker Jesse Ngala. The first half was quite productive for the forwards and their efforts were rewarded with a goal. In the 12th minute, Johny dodged a man and was fouled at the edge of the penalty area by a late-arriving defender. A freekick was awarded, a quick start followed, with a powerful shot at goal from Brian, which Uweza’s keeper spilt over into the path of inform striker Jesse Ngala who made no mistake from close range to take his tally from the last two games to two goals.

An early goal did well for the SUFC players’ confidence as they had a cushion and a lead to protect. Simultaneously, the situation was turning from bad to worse for our opponents. One goal down, they were struggling to find their best layers with balls over the top that always fell into the path of Moussa or Osodo who were on Center back duties. Meanwhile, left back Juju was producing havoc wrecking runs down the left flank that kept the opposition blaming each other for their failure to track him down. On the right, the case was the same. Jesse Wanjau who was laying right full-back was getting past his marker with ease, exploding forward with powerful runs that ended up with cross balls.

Coach Kamara’s charges went for the break a goal up, having been denied two more goals after one SUFC player was judged to be offside on both occasions. In the second half, the hosts put up a fight, determined to come back into the game. They drew fouls in dangerous areas of the pitch but nothing materialized into an equalizer. They failed to capitalize on our inability to put the game to bed. Goalkeeper Eugene, who was idle for most of the game acting as a pressure outlet during ball possession, was on hand to pull a spectacular save deep into the half that kept us afloat and safe. For his efforts, he got a clean sheet.

With six points out of a possible six, SUFC head to the double games, and this week heads high. Coach Kamara lauded the boys for a fine display, recognizing the room for improvement, the last two games of the season being on home ground, nothing short of a stellar performance is expected to match our results on the road or do better. Training continues ahead of the the game with Tandaza FC.

This article was written by Denzel Maina, a Bachelor of Arts in Communication student.