Mwalala pleads for patience as Bandari lose again

“We are not a super power that we must win all our matches therefore play your role as Bandari Football Club fans and let me do my coaching job or simply take a long walk and forget about supporting the team.”

This is the candid response of Bandari coach Bernard Mwalala to the irate fans who were baying for his blood after the team lost 2-1 to Kakamega Homeboyz in Mombasa on Wednesday to register their fourth loss of the season.

Speaking after the match, a visibly angry Mwalala said Bandari has not been playing alone on the pitch that fans should simply expect a walk in the park saying that it is wrong for the fans to constantly criticise the team and the technical bench whenever they lose reiterating that winning and losing are all part of football.

Mwalala said his injury-hit Bandari side was simply going through a bad phase that would eventually end adding that he has prepared his team for the same.

“All along I have been preparing the boys to believe that such moments will come and it will be hard to swallow. What matters is how they deal with them because their response will either make or break the team,” said Mwalala, who says he is accustomed to such during his time as a player and now as a coach.

He further said that all teams in the league have had their bad phases while quoting defending champions Gor Mahia, KCB, Sofapaka, AFC Leopards, Mathare United and Tusker but they come through and are now slowly stabilising.

“Against Kakamega Homeboyz, for example, we controlled proceedings and even missed a penalty courtesy of captain Felly Mulumba who rarely misses a penalty but our opponents only got two chances which they converted. That was when I concluded that the bad moments are here with us,” he noted.

The coach said the absence of goal poacher Wycliffe Ochomo has affected the team adding that in Kenya today, only Ochomo, Allan Wanga and Dennis Oliech are proven goal getters who can be relied on day in day out.