AFC Leopards coach Mbungo: We don't want to hand our rivals Gor Mahia the title

AFC Leopards coach Casa Mbungo has vowed to stop Gor Mahia from making history on Sunday.

K’Ogalo are on the verge of winning a record 18th Kenyan Premier League (KPL) title and a third in succession if they register six points from their next two matches, starting with the derby against their bitter rivals Ingwe.

Gor Mahia are sitting top of the 18-team KPL table on 66 points, seven more than second-placed Bandari, who beat Tusker 3-1 at home on Friday.

A win against Ingwe will leave them three points away but the Rwandan coach is not willing to let that happen.

“We have the bragging rights to play for and at the same time, it will be very wrong to allow your rival to beat you on his way to winning the title. I don’t want to say that it is not possible for them to get a win, but all I know is we will not give in easily,” Mbungo told Goal in an interview.

“We will fight to the end because our main aim is to get maximum points. We are not bothered with what they want, we are looking at what we want and we are ready to deliver a good result on Sunday.”

Against KCB, coach Mbungo rested five key players – David ‘Cheche’ Ochieng, Paul Were, Whyvonne Isuza, Soter Kayumba and Abdalla ‘Shittu’ Salim.

“My team selection had nothing to do with the derby, no…not at all,” added Mbungo.

“I only decided to rest my top players because they have played in every match for the last two weeks. Most of them have been involved in 10 matches and we felt like a technical bench to rotate the squad and we were not thinking about the derby at all.”

“This is a derby, remember it will be decided in 90 minutes so we will have to be at our best throughout the clash. We are ready and what I want is to ask our fans to turn out in large numbers and support the boys. I am confident that they will not disappoint.”

Ingwe will be keen to earn revenge having lost the reverse fixture 2-0.