Strathmore Leos head coach Willis Ojal blames relegation fight on 4 games
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Reading Time: 2min | Wed. 05.03.25. | 13:12
The coach lamented missed opportunities in four key matches that could have significantly altered their season
Strathmore Leos head coach, Willis Ojal, has attributed his team’s precarious position in the 2024/25 Kenya Cup season to four key games in which they failed to capitalize on crucial moments.
With only two wins from 10 matches, the students find themselves in ninth place on the log, just four points clear of relegation-threatened South Coast Pirates.
The Leos had a rough start to their campaign, suffering a 22-16 defeat to Nondies RFC before falling to Menengai Oilers (38-8), KCB Rugby (43-8), Kabras RFC (45-5), and South Coast Pirates (18-8).
They briefly found their footing with back-to-back wins over Kisumu RFC (46-13) and Impala RFC (21-14) but later slumped again with losses to Mwamba, Nakuru, and Blak Blad.
Although they might avoid relegation this season, Ojal remains focused on the lessons learned and how they can improve moving forward.
“As an individual, I have taken my lessons; as a team, we are all on the same page. These are some of the things we will be looking at come the end of the season,” Ojal told Mozzart Sport.
He lamented missed opportunities in four key matches that could have significantly altered their season.
“We know there are games we should have won; we know we should have been chasing playoffs. And all this started from our first game against Nondies, making the wrong decisions in the last play.
Against Pirates, we waited too late, and also against Mwamba and Nakuru,” he explained.
Despite the losses, Ojal remained confident in his charges’ abilities.
“Those are games we believe we should have sealed very early, but we did not. But a mistake is when you do it repeatedly, so we have taken our lessons,” he averred.
Regarding their recent match against Blak Blad, Ojal expressed frustration over missed opportunities that could have swung the game in their favor.
“I feel we did not take some of the chances that we should have taken. The game was open, and it was there for us to take. There were tries we scored that I felt like we just left them off the hook, especially after the kickoff and they ran to score.
We let ourselves down, but you can only control what is in your hands,” he concluded.
They will host Kenya Harlequin in the last Kenya Cup match slated for Saturday, 8 March.
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