We can do better, Rayon coach urges strikers

Saturday Rayon Sports 3-0 KireheMarines 2-2 EspoirAmagaju 0-1 MukuraSunrise 0-0 Etincelles FridaySC Kiyovu 1-0 APR FC Despite his 10-man team winning 3-0 against lowly Kirehe FC in the Azam Rwanda Premier League on Saturday, Rayon Sports assistant coach Hamad ‘Katauti’ Ndikumana has cautioned his strikers’ to improve. Rayon missed so many chances at Kigali Stadium during the game against Kirehe. Striker Shassir Nahimana, center-back Faustin Usengimana and winger Nova Bayama netted the all-important goals for the defending champions to secure top spot, level on seven points with APR side that lost 1-0 against SC Kiyovu on Friday and Mukura, who defeated Amagaju FC in the Southern Province derby. “It is good to win a game with three goals but we could have scored more had our strikers not squandered so many of the chances that we created,” said Ndikumana, who was in charge of the game in the absence of the suspended head coach Olivier Karekezi. He noted that, “We controlled the game until we were reduced to ten players in the second half that is when Kirehe put us under a little bit of pressure but we managed to deal with it pretty well.” The Blues were without head coach Karekezi, who was serving a one-man touch line suspension following his sending off during last week’s away match to Bugesera which his team lost 1-0. Burundian forward Nahimana opened the scoring in the 42nd minute from the spot before he was sent off five minutes into the second half for a needless kick at Kirehe goalkeeper Emile Mbarushimana. Despite being a man down, Rayon Sports continued to dominate play and it was not late before center-back Usengimana doubled the lead with a thumping header from Pierrot Kwizera’s corner kick in the 62nd minute. Bayama scored a brilliant third goal with powerful shot in the 73rd minute to seal a comfortable victory. Ndikumana added, “Caleb (Bimenyimana) missed many chances, I think he has had a poor day today. But he knows he has to improve and start taking his chances, and justify why he should start ahead of the other forwards we have.” His counterpart Abdulkarim ‘Coka’ Nduhirabandi of Kirehe FC admitted that his team defended better in the first 40 minutes but in the end “gave away the game.” “The three substitutions that we made killed our game. We came into the match to get three points and we defended well and denied Rayon Sports any opportunity in the first 40 minutes until we gave away a cheap penalty, you can’t afford to do that against a big team,” the former Marines coach admitted. He noted: “After they went a player down, we changed tactic in order to attack more but Rayon Sports scored a second goal quickly, which affected our players mentally and physically because they had to chase the game.” Rayon Sports dominance saw play-maker Pierrot Kwizera hit the crossbar, right-back Saddam Nyandwi hit the post while Bimenyimana and Nahimana missed three good chances between them for the hosts. Suleiman Kakira missed Kirehe’s best scoring opportunity in front of goal in the 30th minute as his team suffered a third defeat in the first four league matches, to remain 14th in the table with three points. editorial@newtimes.co.rw