Leopards, Sofapaka share spoils as coaches clash on the touchline

NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 13 – AFC Leopards and Sofapaka played out to a 1-1 draw in an FKF Premier League match at the Nyayo National Stadium on Sunday afternoon, in a clash that was highlighted by a first half clash of both technical benches.

A feisty first half ended up in Sofapaka assistant coach David Ouma being red carded after a clash with the entire AFC bench.

The former Harambee Starlets tactician uttered some words that seemed to have angered his opposite number at AFC Tom Juma who was followed in tow by keeper trainer Lawrence Webo.

n the blink of an eye, head coach Patrick Aussems joined in and it almost ended up in a brawl, with stewards and police officers having to come in between.

It was not the first time that the two benches have clashed as they also did so when they played in the first leg.

At that point, Sofapaka were leading 1-0 courtesy of Lawrence Juma’s goal.

But, just two minutes after the incident, Leopards levelled. Dan Musamali rose highest inside the box to head home a Washington Munene cross as Ingwe benefited the most from the five-minute stoppage.

Juma had given Sofapaka the lead in the 20^th minute also off a header, when he sneaked in at the near post to head home a Said Tsuma corner.

It was Sofapaka’s first effort on target, with Leopards having been the more adventurous in attack. They already had two shots on target with Eugene Mukangula being denied by the keeper off a Munene cross before Enock Wanyama’s shot was well collected by the keeper.

Towards the tail end of the opening 45 minutes, Sofapaka thought they should have had a penalty when Alex Imbusia was hacked down inside the box but the referee had none of it.

In the second half, chances were few and far in between. The closest effort at goal was in the 50^th minute when a quick counter by AFC saw Collins Shichenje play the ball out to Maxwell Otieno who in turn swung a cross into the box.

Shichenje tried his luck with an acrobatic kick but Sofapaka keeper Kevin Omondi made a good save.

Leopards tried to up their offensive game, bringing on board Peter Thiong’o and Ojo Olaniyi while Sofapaka introduced Robert Karisa for Joe Waithira.

However, none of the two sides could add a goal to their count.