Ibenge reveals frustration after Azam conceded in win

Azam FC head coach Florent Ibenge revealed what gave him the victory against Singida Black Stars while being hurt by the goal they allowed, because he sees there was a great possibility of leaving with a ‘clean sheet’.

The Ice Cream Makers Azam FC bounced back from two scoreless draws on Wednesday to defeat Singida Black Stars 2-1 in a NBC Premier League clash between Tanzania’s two CAF Confederation Cup group stage participants.

 

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Iddy Nado set up fellow Tanzania national team player Feisal “Fei Toto” Salum for Azam’s second goal shortly after the hour mark, allowing the visitors to hold off a late charge from the hosts at Airtel Stadium in the Singida Region.

Another Tanzanian international, defender Lusajo Mwaikenda, put the Ice Cream Makers ahead in the 50th minute when he got on the end of a cross from Nado. Ayubu Lyanga’s 71st minute goal sparked a late effort from the hosts but they could not find an equalizer.

‘I was forced to change our rhythm’

“We came here to win, it wasn’t easy, because one more time Singida is a very good team,” Ibenge told Pan-Africa Football. “But we didn’t put enough pressure in the first half.

“At half-time I was forced to change our rhythm; I wanted to put in more rhythm which made the difference. I am a bit disappointed because we conceded one goal, we should have made a clean sheet here, but we took three points, so it is not easy, so I am happy.”

Asked why Azam could not keep a clean sheet, Ibenge said: “We lost a little bit of concentration, we need to be alert always in the game, knowing that anything can happen during the game.

“You don’t know what can happen with the fans, with the game, or even with the referee, so, we need to focus each time during the game to avoid such because anything wrong can happen in the game.”

On why he withdrew defender Nassor Saadun Hamoud in the second half, or whether it was a tactical change, the DR Congo veteran coach said: “You know for a long time he didn’t play, so, if he played one hour today it was a miracle.

“So, we don’t push him to get injured. So, the substitution was for himself, and for the team, because normally you have to play only one hour, and that is what we did.”

Azam used half chances to beat Singida

On his part Singida Black Stars coach David Ouma said: “We started the game strongly by imposing it on Azam and we had three corners in the first three minutes, and that shows you we started well, as we had planned.

“Of course, you know the corner is a half goal, and we never took the advantage; we also had three chances to score, we had opened the defenders and ours was to score but we couldn’t score, those were big chances for us.

“In football at this level, if you create chances and don’t score, then you will definitely be punished. Azam had half chances and they used them to punish us.”

The result moved Azam into second place on the league table, six points behind leaders Young Africans and one point ahead of Simba SC. However, Simba do have two games in hand on the two clubs ahead of the Reds.

League action will resume at full pace this weekend, beginning on Friday. Young Africans return to action on Saturday with a home fixture against Tanzania Prisons while Azam clash with Simba in a Dar es Salaam derby to conclude the round on Sunday.