AFC Leopards head coach Robert Matano (left) and his assistant Tom Juma during their GOtv Shield match against Bidco United at the Thika sub County Stadium on July 27, 2017.Photo/TIMOTHY OLOBULU
NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 6- Goalkeeper Ian Otieno was forced to pull Allan Katterega off head coach Robert Matano as the winger protested his substitution in AFC Leopards’ 1-0 loss at the hands of Bandari at the Afraha Stadium in Nakuru on Sunday.
Katterega, who was making a return to action after almost two months out with injury, had been brought on as an early second half substitute in place of Samuel Ndung’u but was later subbed again in the 88th minute for Andrew Tololwa.
The Ugandan walked straight to Matano and assistant coach Tom Juma seemingly to ask why he had been hauled off yet had put in the hard yards as AFC struggled to get back from a goal down with Matano signaling him to go seat.
He stuck to the spot but substitute keeper Otieno pulled him away with the scene threatening to turn ugly.
AFC Leopards had come into the match with hopes of scaling up the standings especially after picking a point from their last two games, but were stunned with Abdallah Hassan hitting the back of the net with a 44th minute goal.
Against the run of play, the winger picked up the ball on the right before calmly slotting past Gabriel Andika in the Ingwe goal.
AFC had the best of chances in the match and as early as the seventh minute, they should have gotten into the lead. From a floated ball on the left, Alex Kitenge picked up at the far post but his shot at goal was blocked for a corner.
At the quarter hour mark, the Burundian forward had another chance with a shot from the edge of the box on the weaker left foot but it went wide.
Ingwe continued to pound and Wilson Obungu in the Bandari goal was kept busy. In the 32nd minute he did well to punch away a shot from Victor Majid while 10 minutes from then, he made a superb flying save to deny Duncan Otieno from a freekick.
In the second half, AFC continued to pound with Bandari shot-stopper Wilson Obungu pulling great saves to deny Duncan Otieno from another freekick and a close range effort from Aziz Okaka.
