Bidco United head coach Antony Akhulia says his team’s lapse in concentration during the dying moments cost them a crucial point in their SportPesa League match against defending champions Police FC.
A stoppage-time strike from substitute Exaule Misuri sealed a dramatic 3-2 win for Police, leaving Bidco empty-handed despite a spirited second-half comeback.
Police FC looked firmly in control at halftime after taking a 2-0 lead. Their opener came in the 24th minute when David Simiyu finished off a well-weighted cross from Geoffrey Onyango on the left flank.
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Nineteen minutes later, the champions doubled their advantage when Eric Zakayo fired home after connecting with a minus from Tobias Otieno in the 43rd minute.
Facing a damaging loss, coach Akhulia responded with tactical changes at the break, shifting to a back three with overlapping fullbacks.
The move breathed new life into his team, pushing Police onto the back foot and opening up space down the flanks. The adjustment paid off handsomely, sparking two quick goals that brought Bidco level and stunned the home side.
In the 73rd minute, Jacob Onyango rose highest to meet a cross from Thomas Wainaina, heading past goalkeeper Job Ochieng’ to pull one back.
Just two minutes later, Wainaina delivered another dangerous ball from the left, and Police captain David Ochieng’ inadvertently turned it into his own net, completing an unexpected comeback and giving Bidco belief that they could walk away with at least a point.
However, that hope evaporated deep into stoppage time when Misuri pounced with the decisive goal, condemning Akhulia’s men to defeat.
Bidco United head coach Antony Akhulia left disappointed after last minute lapse
Speaking after the match, Akhulia expressed his disappointment, pointing to lapses at the worst possible time.
“We lost concentration in the added minutes, they added 5 minutes in which we just had to defend well, we lost concentration on their long balls and it let us down,” said Akhulia.
He praised the impact of his tactical shifts but insisted his side should have defended better.
But we were down two nil and we equalized to make it 2-2 after a bit of change of formation and bringing in new people and as you can see it was going to give us a result.
Because scoring 2 goals against Police is not easy but the saddest part is losing in the last minute of the match so we will regroup and check on our defensive mistakes as see if we can get a win in our next match.”
Akhulia further highlighted how rare such a comeback is against Police FC, admitting the loss was hard to take given their improved second-half display.
The change of formation with a back 3 was so effective for us and in the entire second half we were the better team, we scored two goals against them a thing we’ve never done so just the lack of concentration in defending cost us.
Because coming down from 2 goals down to equalize against such a team you are supposed to defend more and that winning goal for them the minute it came it just shows we had some late minutes relapse but it’s a game of football we go back to the drawing board and see what next against Posta Rangers.”
Despite the painful ending, Bidco’s performance after the break gives them something to build on as they prepare for their next assignment.
