YOUNG Africans Head Coach Nassredine Nabi has apologised to fans for the poor performance in their 1-0 win over Kagera Sugar while his colleague Mecky Mexime hailed his charges for sticking to the game plan despite the loss.
The slim victory at CCM Kirumba Stadium in Mwanza over the weekend saw Yanga regain the pilot seat with 23 points from nine matches and stamped a 46 Premier league matches without a defeat.
It was a tough match to both sides as it was staged at the waterlogged pitch thereby limiting easy flow of the ball, a situation that forced players to use long balls to cope with the situation.
Up next, Yanga host star-studded Singida Big Stars at Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in Dar es Salaam on Thursday for yet another sparkling fixture that is likely to attract the attention of many football followers.
“With fatigue of players and the nature of the pitch, it was difficult to display good performance as such, I apologise to our fans for this… but the most important thing is the victory which has enabled us to collect maximum points,” Nabi said after the match.
He also seized the platform to acknowledge Kagera Sugar for giving them a tough match saying they were well prepared and had a good game making the encounter tense.
On his part, Kagera Sugar trainer Mexime lauded his players for upholding his game plan, a thing he said enabled them to dominate the match in the both halves.
“As you saw, we managed to contain them… succeeding to dominate a team of Yanga caliber is not that easy but we did it even though the end product is not what we wanted. We are going back to the drawing board to prepare for the upcoming fixture,” said him.
Commenting on the penalty they missed in the second half of the game, he said nobody should be blamed for that because any player can miss a spot-kick as such; it was just part of the game.
He then elaborated that they succeeded in suffocating strong areas of Yanga that is why they were under less pressure throughout the hot encounter.
This was Mexime’s first loss after being reappointed at the helm of the club replacing his predecessor Francis Baraza who was shown an exit door due to unconvincing results.
The setback has seen the Kagera based giants remaining with 11 points from eleven matches, equivalent to one point per match as the marathon heads to the first round’s climax.
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