Menengai Oilers’ Head Coach Gibson Weru reckons that his side has had a mixed start to the 2019/2020 season after the first five weeks of the Kenya Cup.
Oilers kicked off their campaign with a strong 31-5 win over Top Fry Nakuru before picking up their second bonus point win in Kakamega against Western Bulls with a 27-21 score. The performance saw them rise up to the fourth position on the Kenya Cup log. Weru’s charges have since then lost the three fixtures to Homeboyz, KCB and Kenya Harlequins.
“The three losses have left us in a very tough position in terms of getting our rhythm back on track. All credit to Quins who came out guns blazing on Saturday taking advantage of our poor concentration in the first quarter where we conceded three tries and we were unable to recover,” said Weru.
The three losses have placed Oilers to sixth position, one point above seventh placed Nakuru and five points behind Stanbic Mwamba who are fifth on the table.
On the flipside, Weru is proud of the gradual improvement of his team’s performance in the longer version of the game. They kicked it off with an excellent outing during the 2019 Impala Floodlit tournament reaching the final before kicking off their second Kenya Cup season with the two wins and three losses mentioned above.
“We’re picking a lot of positives in terms of how we want to play despite the crucial mistakes that have cost us wins. There’s also room for improvement when it comes to our defense going forward to allow us become more competitive. Heading into the next fixture, we need to perfect what is working for us while also improving on the areas where we are going wrong.” concluded Weru.
Oilers will host Nondies on 30th at the ASK Nakuru Showgrounds. The Red Lion has won one match and lost four and will definitely be out to secure their second win of the season.
The ESS match will kick off at 2:00pm while the Kenya Cup kicks off at 4:00pm.
Photo courtesy of Menengai Oilers