Injury bug hits Leopards
by Fred Maingi 06 February 2012, 18:06
AFC Leopards new signing Erick Masika is among seven players who are down with injuries as the club’s western province residential camp concludes on Tuesday morning.
Other players with injuries include the two Goalkeepers Brian Tiema and Patrick Matasi.
Other ‘s with knocks include Salim Kinje,Bernard Mangoli,Jonas Nahimana, Martin Imbalambala, and Victor Ochieng.
The team concluded their trip with a 1-0 win over Butere Combined in a well attended match staged at the Bukembe Stadium in Butere.The lone goal was scored by Uganda import Jimmy Bagaye in the first half from the spot.
Team manager Bernard “Imboko” Onyango however believes despite the injuries, the team will make a great impact next weekend when they face off with Chemelil Sugar in their opening KPL tie against Chemelil Sugar at the Nyayo National Stadium.
‘We are not worried with the injuries.They are not serious as such.They are knocks that will take some few day’s but I hope before we take on Chemelil Sugar next weekend,the boys will have recovered fully.We have given them time to recover ahead of our weekend match” said Imboko.
The injury scare forced the team to field Goalkeeper trainer Mohamed Fwaya during their friendly match against Butere Combined .He was able to keep the team in the game despite making several acrobatic saves from the home team.
Imboko decried the poor state of playing grounds during their friendly matches as pathetic.
“My players are not used to the deplorable grounds we found here and that is why they have sustained all this injuries.We are returning back to Nairobi on Tuesday .We have no regret’s whatsoever since the coach was able to identify his starting line-up and sharpen all the weak departments after the arrival of few players” he said.