‘It is difficult for us to digest’ – Simba SC Vandenbroeck reflects on consecutive defeats

Simba SC coach Sven Vandenbroeck has revealed he is yet to come to terms with the team’s two consecutive defeats in the Mainland Premier League.

The Wekundu wa Msimbazi, who were looking unstoppable when the 2020-21 campaign started, have now lost two matches in a row - a 1-0 defeat against Tanzania Prisons before falling to Ruvu Shooting by the same margin two days ago.

The defeat against Shooting saw Simba surrender the third spot in the 18-team table as they dropped to fourth while their rivals Young Africans (Yanga SC) who are still unbeaten, moved to second behind table-toppers Azam FC.

The two defeats have left the Belgian coach scratching his head and has gone ahead to apologise to the fans and also promised a quick comeback in their next league match.

“First of all, I want to apologise for the two losses in a row to the Simba family and it is very hard for us to digest,” Vandenbroeck said as quoted by Daily News. “If you look at the game, we missed some aggressiveness in the first half which was not our usual level of play.

“The second half was much better as we took some risks but in total, we were not efficient enough to take good results today [Monday]. It hurts to all of us.

“At this point, it is very difficult to point out what is the problem and if I have to analyse everything, it is something which I cannot share with the members of the media.

“According to the way we pushed in the second half, I do not think match fitness is the problem to point at. I think the question is what we have available in the striking position which made me play with a false number nine.”

Simba captain John Bocco, who missed a penalty to put the team level against Shooting, has also apologized to the fans.

“On behalf of the players, I want to apologise for the two defeats we suffered against Prisons and Ruvu Shooting,” Bocco said as quoted by the club’s social media pages. “We fell against teams that we should not have but we promise it will not happen again.

“Our promise to the fans is that we will rectify mistakes from the two matches and come back better and stronger to win the coming games.”

Prior to Monday's meeting, Simba and Ruvu Shooting had met 18 times in all competitions and Wekundu wa Msimbazi had managed to win 16 games, drawing the remaining two.

Simba will next take on Mwadui FC at Uhuru Stadium on Friday.