NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 14 – Strathmore University Scorpions head coach Meshack Senge says he is gutted that his players did not rise to the occasion in their 1-0 loss to Kenyan counterparts, Blazers, in their Africa Cup of Club Championships at City Park Stadium on Tuesday morning.
The national women’s hockey league champions fell in the 42nd minute, courtesy of a Melvin Muga Omondi goal as their opponents exerted revenge for losing the local crown to the students in the just-concluded season.
Senge said his charges lacked bite in attack and showed so much respect to their opponents on the pitch.
“We did not execute our gameplan the way we wanted to. I think they (Blazers) wanted the win more than us. On the ball and off it, we were not aggressive and did not show enough initiative to get into their circle. So, we will need to go back to the drawing board and explore the reasons behind why we played so poorly as we have done today,” he said.
The students, who won the national crown for the first time in their existence, seemed all at sea during the match albeit they upped the pressure on their more experienced opponents in the dying embers of the game.
Senge admitted that the players may have been overawed by the fact that they are playing at the continental level for the first time.
“This is our result…we accept it and acknowledge that we need to work harder. You have to remember that for this team, this is our first time at the continental level. I do not think that the players were arrogant or still hung over from winning the national title. I think it (the loss) was also down to our inexperience at this level of competition,” the coach said.
Senge added: “The good thing is that this is our first match of the tournament so there is still chance for us to rectify the mistakes we made today. We will sit together as a team and evaluate and I am sure we will come back stronger…strategizing with each game.”
Blessing in disguise
Speaking at the same time, team captain Jeriah Onsare said the defeat is a wake-up call for them, promising that the Scorpions will come back a more portent side in subsequent fixtures.
“It is a tough way to begin our tournament. However, we take it as motivation for our next matches. We are now ready for the next game and promise to come back better than before,” she said.
Onsare also backed up her tutor’s sentiments, adding that they didn’t make the Blazers pay for their occasional lapses in concentration.
“Our undoing today was that we did not utilize our opportunities as we should have. We did not attack their circle as much often as we were expected to and we did not take our chances when we had them. They used their chances and they caught us. That was it,” she said.
Scorpions’ next match is against Kada Queens of Nigeria on Wednesday morning at the same venue.
