Bungoma Superstars head coach Frankline Musumba has expressed excitement regarding the teamwork of his boys despite a barren draw against a well-funded Sindo United FC.
Musumba had made two changes to his losing side against Green Commandos a week ago, bringing in a suspended Daniel ‘Dada’ Juma and Iyan Kong’ani for Collins Sang’alo and Meshack Okirodi.
Reverting to his traditional 4-3-3 formation from the 3-5-2 one deployed against GreenCommandos, Musumba employed Kong’ani, Victor Wanyonyi and Bethwel Musasia to tempo up the midfield with Juma, Samwel Wekesa and Ambrose Simiyu harassing the visiting defence from the flanks.
The 4-3-3 system seemed to harvest fruits as pressure from the Juma-led firing squad forced the visiting defence to head back to their goal keeper who accidentally punched out for a corner in the 7th minute.
The visitors first showed their seriousness when their cross from the flanks dropped into the box but with Superstars custodian Brian Marani already available to hug the ball.
The biggest talk of town came in the 66th minute when Sindo handled the ball in the box, but with every Superstars player avoiding the ball for captain Hatil Wekesa whose low shot penalty was slapped back by the visiting goalkeeper to retain the scoreboard.
With a quarter an hour to go, Dada should have put the hosts in front but headed direct to the keeper.
Musumba subbed Bethwel Musasia with Ezekiel Simiyu but the new energy struggled to fly the crosses from the left flank into the target box.
Referee Moses Simiyu pointed to the centre spot, signaling the last whistle as the visitors sneaked away with a point from the well-attended Bungoma High School Grounds.
Despite the draw, Musumba hailed the players for putting up a ‘military fight’ against the then third-placed Sindo who are yet to concede.
“I switched the boys from an experimental 3-5-2 to our traditional 4-3-3 and I’m really impressed by players. What we just need now is the goals,” said Musumba in a post match press conference with WakajuanessLive.Com.
Musumba, who lost four players in the transfer window, also rued the missed chances, urging the boys to be converting any available chances into goals.
“These open chances that we are wasting may affect us but the boys are aware and more motivated for upcoming matches.”
Bungoma Superstars finished 5th on the table last season, 11 points behind winners Mara FC despite giving away two walk-over matches to today’s opponents and Mara FC due to financial constraints.
Musumba now expects Bungoma Superstars to raise to the occasion against the weekend visitors Sunderland Keroche.
The draw means Bungoma Superstars have dropped 5 points from a possible 9.