Mukura Victory Sports plot comeback in 2017

As Mukura Victory Sports plot a comeback after a very disappointing run in the national football league, head coach Godfroid Okoko has challenged his players to make consistency their 2017 priority. At the start of the season, Mukura was rated among the top title contenders following a promising 2015/16 season. But the club is now a far cry from that and is instead one of the struggling clubs. Out of 11 games played so far the club has won only three, four drawn four and lost four as well. This unconvincing performance has placed the Huye-based side in the 11th place with 13 points, a total of 16 points behind leaders Rayon with just four games left in the first round of the league. Last season after 11 games, Mukura were on top of the league chart before finishing in the third position- 60 points behind champions APR FC (67) and Rayon Sports (61). Hoping to salvage the situation in the New Year, Okoko urged his players to make a comeback in 2017. He made the call last week on Friday after a crucial win 1-0 against Amagaju FC at home turf (Huye stadium) in the southern Province- their first win in last six games played. “It was a nice game (against Amagaju FC), one of our best performances so far this season. Despite not scoring many goals, I was happy that the spirit of togetherness, determination and sacrifice for the team is back which is the most important factor,” said Okoko “I fully believe that performance was a great indicator of what we can do in our next games and I hope my players maintain that momentum,” he added The result was a relief for Okoko whose side last tasted a win on match day four when they defeated SC Kiyovu 2-1 before drawing 0-0 against Police FC, and went ahead to lose 2-0 away to Espoir FC for match days five and six. On match day 8, Mukura drew 1-1 against Marines before registering a similar result against league leaders Rayon Sports. It later lost 2-0 against Bugesera in match-day 10 last week. Okoko recently blamed the poor start to lack of pre-season preparation. “While others were starting the season on high, we have been trying to find momentum which we would have done during pre-season but I am confident things will get back to normal soon.” This Sunday, Mukura will take on relegation threatened Gicumbi FC at Mumena FC seeking to make a perfect start in 2017. editorial@newtimes.co.rw