Posta Rangers coach explains twice subbing Oliver Maloba against Mara Sugar

Posta Rangers assistant coach Collins ‘Korea’ Omondi has explained the circumstances that led to winger Oliver Maloba being substituted twice against Mara Sugar FC.

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The Mailmen hosted the Sugar Millers in an FKF Premier League match that was held on Saturday, 15 November at the Kasarani Annex, which ended in a barren draw.

One of the most peculiar events in the match was the subbing off of Maloba, a few minutes before the 90th-minute mark, after he came on in the 67th minute.

During his post-match press conference, Omondi shed more light on that unusual decision.

“If you were keen, you would realise he (Maloba) had a lot of missed passes. We were chasing a win, and he was losing too many balls.

By doing so, he was helping Mara Sugar to attack us, and so we had to get him off so that we maintain and improve our possession in the final third,” said Omondi.

Apart from the bizarre substitution, former Wazito FC goalkeeper Bixente Otieno also made his first start of the season, which came after nine months on the sidelines, replacing former Gor Mahia goalkeeper Fredrick Odhiambo between the posts.

“He (Otieno) was our best goalkeeper last season, but had two concussions in the season that kept him on the sidelines for a long time.

When he returned, we had a good goalkeeper (Fredrick Odhiambo) and could only change him if we had a bad run of results, which is how he started,” explained Omondi.

After a great start to the season, winning three of their first four matches and leading the league table after four rounds of matches, Posta are in a poor run of form and currently on a five-match winless streak.

Despite the torrid run, Omondi was still able to pick positives from the draw against Mara Sugar.

“The positive is that we got a goal, unlike against Sofapaka when we neither scored nor had a shot on target.”