Aussems hails Opiyo’s heroics in Leopards win

AFC Leopards head coach Patrick Aussems has hailed the heroics of goalkeeper Levis Opiyo for earning AFC Leopards a hard fought 2-1 win against KCB.

In the FKF Premier league match played at MISC Kasarani on Sunday, KCB would have overturned Leopards win into an agonizing 2-2 draw were it not for Opiyo’s classic performance between the sticks.

“I think that Levi (Opiyo) saved us by putting out that penalty shot from the KCB player but towards the end of the game they (KCB) decided to play a lot of long balls and we tried to match their style but it did not work because they really pinned us into our own box.

However the team fought their all to protect the win although tactically I didn’t like the last 20 minutes because we were not in position,” Aussems said.

John Mark-Makwatta and Victor Omune scored for Ingwe before Nanjendo Nashon pulled one back to force a tense final 18 minutes, with Aussems pointing fingers at his boys for not killing the game after numerous wasted chances.

“We made a good first half result leading 2-0 but we needed to score another goal in the second half to kill off the game because if you don’t stretch your lead then you put yourself in real danger throughout the game,” Aussems concluded.

The win ensured Leopards moved to 38 points in 10th position, a point behind the Bankers and a fantastic bounce back to winning ways after losing 2-1 to Tusker while KCB stretched their winless streak to six matches.

KCB pulled a consolation goal with only 16 minutes to play through Nanjendo Nashon who capitalized on Ingwe's defensive mistakes.

Nashon should have made it 2-2 after KCB were awarded a penalty two minutes after their opener but Nanjendo's spot kick was saved by Levis Opiyo who dived to his right to punch it to safety.