Tusker boss Robert Matano says the pain his side experienced from missing out on both the league and cup titles at the last hurdle last season fueled a desire to restructure their way of running things this season in order to make amends next time.
Last season, Tusker lost the title by one point to Gor Mahia on 69 points, the highest points total by any runner up in recent FKFPL history.
They had a chance to at least put a smile on their faces had they won the Mozzart Bet Cup final, but they also missed out on the title, meaning they left empty handed last year.
Tusker completed the signings of James Kibande, Fabian Adikinyi, Edwin Simiyu, Ugandan John Byamukama and last season’s 14 goalgetting midfielder Joseph Mwangi from Nzoia Sugar.
They however, let experienced influential figures like Humphrey Mieno, Jackson Macharia and Shami Mwinyi Kibwana leave the club
Matano, 59, says that in order to prevent a scenario like that happening again, changes needed to be made, which was the reason they decided to sign a core of players who are 26 and below this time round.
“We played well last season and in football anything can happen. Our aim was to win the league but we did not manage and at the last minute, we collapsed with two matches to go,” Matano said.
“We do not want to repeat those kinds of mistakes and I think it is about mental strength which we lacked in the last two or three matches. We are trying to bring in players who can bring new life to the team who can change our style of play and put more life into the team.
“We have been seeing these players where they have been playing. They are new in Tusker but not football. We want to do things a little bit differently this time round.
“Before, we were relying on a core of players who are experienced, the likes of Hum (Mieno) Masha (Jackson Macharia), Mwinyi (Shami), but sometimes we were lacking that punch infront and you know that we would struggle a lot in terms of finishing.”
Matano insists that the side were lacking creativity, which effectively meant that their striker, Deogracious Ojok, who scored 13 goals last season in Tanzanian forward Ibrahim Joshua’s absence, was feeding off scraps, which explained their decision to sign creative players like Mwangi, Kibande and Adikinyi
“We did not have consistent strikers, as you see, we had many different scorers, not like Gor Mahia and Police where one person was scoring many goals.
“After Ibrahim Joshua got injured, we struggled to score goals. If you have a striker, you need people who can feed him to score goals. I think we lacked that and that is why we are bringing in people who can do much for us.”
Tusker jetted off to Arusha on Sunday to continue stepping up their preparations for the new league season.
