AFC Leopards vs Ulinzi Stars: Former Ingwe captain ‘Modo’ Kimani keen to add onto their woes

FOOTBALL AFC Leopards vs Ulinzi Stars: Former Ingwe captain ‘Modo’ Kimani keen to add onto their woes

Joel Omotto 08:00 - 07.01.2024

AFC Leopards will welcome Ulinzi Stars under former captain and coach Anthony ‘Modo’ Kimani but friendship will be out aside as both sides desperately need a win

It will be a meeting of familiar faces when AFC Leopards host Ulinzi Stars in what is a must-win FKF Premier League clash between the two teams on Sunday.

Ingwe will welcome former captain and coach Anthony ‘Modo’ Kimani who is now in charge of Ulinzi Stars but friendship will be out aside as both sides are desperately in need of a win.

The soldiers went into the Christmas break on the back of a three-match winless run, including back-to-back defeats, which brought pressure back on Kimani while Leopards have not enjoyed the best campaign so far, having managed just two wins in 16 games.

Heading into Sunday’s encounter, Ulinzi are just two points above Ingwe, sitting 13th on 17 points, while Leopards are 15th on 15, showing how dire the situation is for the two.

Leopards had to wait until matchday eight to record their first win and the second victory arrived seven games later.

This is a recipe for disaster and another run like this in the second leg will only make matters worse. Tomas Trucha’s men need to hit the ground running in the second leg and have some consistency if they have to avoid spending the entire season in a relegation battle.

Creating chances and scoring goals was their biggest problem in the first leg when they managed 12 goals, the second lowest in the division, and they are hoping to cure that by acquiring a creative midfielder and striker in the mid-season transfer window.

Indeed, it contributed to Leopards’ nine draws so far, meaning had they had a clinical finisher, some of them would have been converted into wins and pushed them higher up the table.

Ulinzi, meanwhile, have suffered nine losses and share the same problems as Sunday’s opponents after managing to score just 14 while letting in 15.

It is a statistic that Kimani will be desperate to change and he will feel out of form and low on confidence Leopards are the side to bounce back with. 

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