Mathare United head coach John Kamau has urged his charges to swiftly shake off Sunday’s 2-0 defeat to Bidco United and turn their full attention to their crucial clash against League leaders Tusker FC.
Mathare had walked into Sunday's match against Bidco with hopes of extending their recent winning run. However, from the first whistle, Bidco took the game by the scruff of the neck, piling early pressure and seizing control of the tempo.
Clinton Asiago fired Bidco into the lead in minute 26 before Simon Abuko added to Bidco's advantage.
Asiago nearly grabbed his brace before the interval when Bidco were awarded a penalty in the 44th minute, but Mathare shot stopper Michael Wanyika guessed right to deny him and keep the deficit from growing. The Slum Boys looked like a pale shadow of the side that had previously dispatched Posta Rangers (3-2) and Mara Sugar (2-1) in back-to-back wins.
"We were a pale shadow of ourselves in the match," Kamau said. He highlighted the quick-fire goals from Bidco, noting that the defensive department ought to have done better. "If you look at the two goals we let in, they were easily avoidable."
"The first goal, for instance, it's a pity we could not be in a position to deal with a cross from 50-60 yards which could have easily been dealt with," he noted.
He noted that the team needed to be more effective in transition after conceding a goal while they held possession.
"The first goal we conceded, we had the ball so that in itself was not good," he stated.
The coach, however, took some positives from the second-half display, where his side dominated possession but lacked the cutting edge to claw their way back into the contest.
"We need to work on our finishing in the final third. We dominated the game and needed to put more emphasis on a strong second-half showing in our next encounters," he added.
Despite the setback, Mathare remain 10th on the FKF Premier League table with 33 points—three adrift of ninth-placed Bandari and a point clear of 11th placed Kariobangi Sharks.
Kamau called on his charges to quickly turn their focus to their next league fixtures and forget the loss. "The most important thing is not to focus on the loss but to put more focus on our upcoming games," Kamau added.
In their next encounter, Mathare face an uphill task as they take on league leaders Tusker at the Dandora Stadium. The Slum boys will be hoping for improved results from their first leg encounter where Tusker triumphed 2-0 courtesy of goals from John Njuguna and James Kibande.
