Kenya Police FC profited from a Mogadishu City Club team that was content to sit back and play on the counter attack, the Somali based side allowing their opponents maximum time and space on the ball, leading to a 3-1 loss.
This is according to Kenya Police FC coach Etienne Ndayiragije who believes that their opponents during Saturday's first leg first round CAF Champions League clash at the Nyayo National Stadium, were not ambitious enough.
"I knew that their tactic would be to come to Nyayo, sit back and play on the counter attack and as a result, I was prepared for it. You saw it happened as I have said, he spoke in the aftermath of the match.
This being a two legged affair, the return leg at Nyayo this Sunday, will hold lots of importance. Concede early and suddenly Mogadishu City have every reason to believe in an upset. Start well, and it will be a formality. It should make for an interesting clash.
"The aim is to progress to the next stage. This is a knockout game. I thank God that we have a good lead. I think I can say that we are going somewhere. We look forward to the second leg on Sunday and we hope to progress to the second round, he added.
Last season, Police made it to the second round of qualification before losing to Egyptian giants Zamalek 3-1 on aggregate. They will hope to make it to that round again, where they will face either Jamus FC from South Sudan or Al Hilal Omdurman from mainland Sudan for a place in the lucrative group stages of the competition.
As a result, they have recruited heavily in the just ended transfer window, with 14 new players, several of whom started on Saturday in the first leg at Nyayo including Congolese forward Gedeon Muyadi, Joash Onyango and others.
According to Ndayiragije, his side is still settling down and he believes that fluency in play will follow thereafter. There is more
"We have a number of new players who are still settling in and learning. We also had many international players who were with the national team. We will catch up, he says.
Police are yet to kick off their Kenya Premier League title defence. That will be on their agenda once they manage the Mogadishu City test.
