AZAM FC Assistant Coach, Idd Cheche said fatigue among his players midway in the second half was the reason behind their 1-0 defeat from Coastal Union at Mkwakwani Stadium in Tanga on Thursday.
Coastal Union’s Haji Ugando scored the only goal of the Mainland Premier League match in the 53rd minute courtesy of a powerful shot, which was enough to embarrass the visitors despite putting it all to get tangible results from the game.
It was the third loss for Azam this season as they slowly drop momentum towards the title chase of the season despite being one of the complete clubs in the country as far as economic stability is concerned.
With the defeat, the ‘ice cream makers’ dropped fourth on the table with 20 points from 11 games, eight points adrift league leaders Simba SC, who have pocked 28 points so far.
On the other hand, Coastal Union recorded their sixth win of the season to sit fifth on the log with 20 points after 13 games also looking to be among the difficult teams to face this season.
Speaking after the match, Cheche disclosed that some of his players picked up fatigue midway in the second half which he said led them to commit mistakes and had to be punished in the end.
“We started the game well, we were able to create many scoring chances but one mistake we committed in the second half condemned us to the defeat,” said him.
Cheche also blamed the poor pitch condition, saying it was not friendly for his side to play good football which could have given them the needed results.
“One game is the lesson for the next match. We have lost but we still have other games coming ahead and the next league tie will take us to Moshi against Polisi Tanzania on a similar pitch like this one but we will fight to win the game,” Cheche said.
His colleague for Coastal Union Juma Mgunda hailed his side for bagging in all maximum three points from the difficult game against Azam.
“I told the boys how important the game was to win and they fought hard to achieve that. For a long time, we had poor results from our home ground but today (Thursday), everyone is happy,” Mgunda said.
He also pointed out that big presence of home fans was also another catalyst which helped his team to stamp the victory, insisting that they will continue to play with positive mind to collect as many points as possible in upcoming matches.
