Odhiambo: Sofapaka feels cheated after disallowed goal vs KCB

Sofapaka coach Ken Odhiambo has claimed poor officiating cost his team a win against KCB in their FKF Premier League match staged on Wednesday.

Batoto ba Mungu played hosts to the Bankers at Wundanyi grounds and were the first to score in the 30th minute through former Gor Mahia winger Lawrence Juma after his volley beat Gabriel Andika in the Bankers' goal.

However, the Bankers restored parity three minutes later through Victor Omondi, and in the second half, they were awarded a penalty but it was saved by keeper Kevin Omondi.

Eight minutes after the penalty was saved, Juma scored the second for the 2009 champions to give them the lead again before Reagan Otieno equalised for the Bankers in the 76th minute.

However, the bone of contention arose in the 70th minute when striker Timothy Otieno scored what looked like a genuine goal to put them 3-1 up but it was disallowed by the linesman for offside.

Odhiambo has now insisted from his point of view, Otieno’s effort was a clear goal and has hit out at the match officials for cheating the team.

“We really feel cheated not to have picked full points against KCB,” Odhiambo told the club’s official website. “Timothy [Otieno] scored a clear open goal but it was ruled out for an offside. Otieno’s header would have sealed the three points for us and thus we feel so cheated by the offside call.

“I usually don’t like to comment on officiating but Wednesday’s one I clearly lack words to describe the turn of events in the match but it wasn’t a good one.

“We came into the match for maximum points but we picked a point out of it, my players played to instructions from the word go into the match, we were better in the second half and we feel cheated we should have collected maximum points.”

On Juma’s performance after grabbing a brace,” Odhiambo said: Lawrence [Juma] is turning to be worth the penny we spent on him, he is such a talented and hardworking player, he’s currently our top player and on some fine form.

“He keeps scoring and assisting and that’s what you need from such a player of his caliber, he’s definitely going to have a great season.”

On keeper Omondi, whom they signed from Division One side Soy United saving the penalty to keep them in the game, Odhiambo explained: “He Kevin [Omondi] is a top keeper, he started the season well but then along the way and which is normal, a deep in form crept in but he stepped in perfectly after we lost Aigba Moubarak in the first half.

“Omondi pulled off a huge save of the game-saving Abuko’s penalty kick to put us in the game.”

On their next league match against Posta Rangers, the former Bandari tactician said: “We put behind KCB game and we now shift our focus to Sunday’s match against Posta Rangers, we hope to collect full points.”

The draw left Sofapaka in 11th position with 15 points from 12 matches while KCB are second on the 18-team table with 26 points from 12 outings.