McKinstry hails Amavubi players despite Cranes defeat

Despite falling to Uganda Cranes 1-0 in the final of the 2015 CECAFA Senior Challenge on Saturday in Addis Ababa, Rwanda’s coach Johnny McKinstry is contented with his team’s performance at the tournament. McKinstry said he is satisfied with how the Amavubi players had gone about their business, suggesting that they had punched above their weight in the annual regional competition. It was fourth defeat for Rwanda against Uganda in a CECAFA final. Before this year’s event, the two countries had contested the finals of the regional tournament in 2003, 2009 and 2001. McKinstry said, “Thanks to all Amavubi fans, both here in Addis and in Rwanda. We are sorry we couldn’t bring you the trophy, but we will keep working hard. Thank you to the CECAFA and. I appreciate the recognition (as coach of the tournament). But all credit should go to the players.” “We set a few targets when I was taking up the job and one of them was getting to the semi-finals of CECAFA,” he said before adding, “We went one step further and it has been a good tournament. But we will pick ourselves up and move on to CHAN,” he added. Rwanda lost to Uganda thanks to a first half Caesar Okhuti header and the Northern Irishman admitted the team fell to a better side. “They are the most successful team in the CECAFA region, so you can’t say we had a bad tournament. We have beaten the host nation and that’s not easy, knocked out the defending champions, we have also beaten last time’s runners up in Sudan.” “We conceded an easy goal and Uganda created one or two chances after that. We created one or two. It was a close game but that’s how finals go,” the 30-year old tactician explained. McKinstry was, however, disappointed with the goal his side conceded and the fact that they couldn’t convert a couple of chances they created for them themselves.” He has one month to prepare his team for the CHAN 2016 finals tournament that the country will host from January 16 to February 7. editorial@newtimes.co.rw

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McKinstry hails Amavubi players despite Cranes defeat