AFC Leopards assistant coach Ezekiel Akwana hopes he will retained in the technical bench to work with Englishman Stewart Hall.PHOTO/Raymond Makahaya
NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 24- Ezekiel Akwana has backed Englishman Stewart John Hall to restore AFC Leopards to the glory days after the former Azam FC and Sofapaka head coach was announced the new man at the helm of the den last week.
Hall takes charge of the club on November 1 and though he will not be expected to do much to change AFC Leopards’ current league predicament, Akwana who is holding forte after the sacking of Belgian Ivan Minnaert believes he will bring in success next season.
“It is a very good thing to bring Hall because he is an experienced coach I am young coach and I need to learn from him. The management has done a good thing to bring him on board and I believe he has a lot to offer the club,” Akwana told Capital Sport.
Akwana, who worked as assistant to Minnaert hopes he will be retained in the coaching panel to transform one of the country’s oldest club to a successful unit.
“I am very confident next season will be different. What we need is depth in our team and a lot of work rate among the players. Hall is experienced, he knows what he wants and if we can work together, this club will be back to the top,” Akwana added.
AFC Leopards fans along Moi Avenue.PHOTO/Raymond Makhaya.
Ingwe dipped to 13th on the Kenyan Premier League standings after 2-0 loss at the hands of bitter rivals Gor Mahia on Sunday, dropping seven points off the top half with three matches left.
“I am very much disappointed with the loss because it is a derby and these are matches you need to win. We started well but in the second half our defenders lost concentration and Gor used their strong points to win the game,” Akwana offered.
Leopards who have not won in the last six games will play bottom side Sofapaka, title chasing Tusker and Muhoroni Youth all in Nairobi in their final three games of the season.
Akwana is still hopeful they can knick in a top eight finish, somehow.
“We just need to work hard in training and see what will come out at the end of it all but our aim still remains nine points in the three games,” the coach added.
Leopards have now stayed for three seasons without a domestic title, their last coming in 2013 when they won the GOtv Shield.
