From almost quitting to the cup semis - surprise package Equity FC dream in historical cup journey

Division one side Equity FC pulled the biggest surprise of the 2020/2021 Football Kenya Federation Cup.

After being the only non-top fight side to make it the last eight of the competition, the Bankers, who still had tricks rolled up their sleeves, secured a historic progression to the semifinals of the cup thanks to a solitary Sande Katumba tap in during the 57th minute, knocking out the defending champions Bandari FC from the competition and keeping alive their fairy run.

But it was not all rosy, neither was it all dreamy as it might have felt in the match played at Ruaraka Grounds that day. Things might have all just taken a turn for the worse and the now semifinalists may not have even honoured the cup competition in the first place due to financial constraint, something we have gotten all accustomed to in Kenyan football.

Right at the start of that competition, in the preliminary round of 64 stage, the club had been scheduled to play away in Kitale against Blessings FC at the Kenyatta Stadium. Although, the ‘small boys’ were pumped up to make an appearance in the competition that helps in giving exposure to unearthed talent, everything needed to facilitate the trip was out of their hands and their dreams in the cup competition almost all came crushing down on them as Mozzart Sport found out.

Being sponsored by Equity bank, one of the country’s leading financial institutions, money constraints had threatened to bring a stop to their journey.

“To be honest before we went to play in the match against Blessings in Kitale, we had already resigned to the fact that we were not going to honour the match. The funds needed to facilitate the trip had not been released yet as there was some budgetary concerns at the time which threatened to curtail the trip due to the circumstances at the time,” Equity cup top scorer Derrick Ayisi who has three goals reveals.

Resigned to the prevailing circumstances and almost giving up on their pursuits, some light finally cracked into their dark and doomed tunnel.

“Luckily for, there were talks between the club and top management and after that we were able to receive the funds and we went on to honour the match,” the striker adds.

In that fixture that they were supposed to forfeit, the talks proved fruitful as the Bankers won 0-3 with Ayisi grabbing a brace for himself in the match. Afterwards, in the round of 32, Equity would triumph 5-3 on post-match penalties following a hard fought 2-2 draw in regulation time against Keroka TTI.

They then secured a date with Vegpro FC in the round of 16, and after inflicting their own damage early on in the 15th minute through an own goal, midfielder Evance Ochieng pulled one back just seven minutes to the half time break before 21 year old Ayisi once again, from the bench, and in the dying embers of the game, powered in a thunderous strike in the 90+5th minute to secure Equity a place in the last eight against top tier Bandari.

Sande Katumba found the solitary goal in the 57th minute and after relentless pressure from the coastal side, still Equity, with some slice of luck being on their side, managed to pull through to advance to the last four.

“The odds were against us. Basically we were the underdogs coming into the match since we are only a division one team playing against a top flight team but after 90 minutes, we are very delighted with the win,” Ayisi stated after they shocked Bandari.

With good results, comes good preparation. At the helm of the club is John Baraza, former Sofapaka head coach, who has masterminded the minnows’ journey to the semis and Ayisi notes the remarkable role the coach has played in instilling confidence to a shaky belief that was somewhat there.

“The coach insisted to us that we should not get frightened with the occasion because the moment we do that we will have lost even before playing. He urged us to be strong at heart and that we get into the match with courage. And from the first minute till the very last minute in the game we surely left our hearts out there and managed the win,” Ayisi remarks of the Bandari feat.

As the striker reveals, the club had only set their eyes up until the quarter finals, but now that they find themselves against a cup hungry AFC Leopards, their belief has reached peak levels ahead of the match.

“We just wanted to reach the quarter finals when we saw the fixtures and we kept on urging ourselves in the camp to see how far we could go. We knew that the winner of this competition gets to go to the CAF Confederations Cup, so we kept psyching ourselves why not us? Now that we are in the semifinals we start believing from here,” the player concludes.

One of the greatest fairytale stories to grace football is probably Leicester City overcoming all odds to win the2016 English Premier League.

Perhaps, just perhaps, we could be staring on our own fairytale journey from division one side Equity FC and what a story it would be.

On their penultimate journey is a rejuvenated Ingwe side who will be licking their fingers at the prospect of facing a division one side. But maybe, just maybe, they should not underestimate the opposition.

The semifinal match takes place on Sunday afternoon.

FKF CUP Results

Blessings 0 vs Equity 3 - Round of 64

Equity 2(5) Keroka TTI 2(3) – Round of 32

Vegpro 1 vs Equity 2 - Round of 16

Bandari 0 vs Equity 1 - Quarter finals

AFC Leopards vs Equity – Semi Finals