Gor Mahia head coach Charles Akonnor has hit out at Posta Rangers for what he described as excessive time-wasting during their 1-1 draw at the Nyayo National Stadium on Thursday afternoon labeling the tactics as not good for football.
Despite rescuing a point in the dying embers of the match, the Ghanaian tactician was left frustrated by the lack of active playing time, particularly in the second half.
Akonnor argued that the stop-start nature of the game denied fans the spectacle they paid to witness and disrupted his team’s rhythm as they chased a winner.
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Gor Mahia head coach Charles Akonnor slams Posta Rangers FC over time-wasting tactics
“Well, I mean, football is meant for 90 minutes. And I think maybe if you look at the first half, we played 25 or 30 minutes; second half the same. This is not good. You know, it’s not good for football, for those who have spent their money to come and watch the game.
You know, it’s not the best, and that is all I can say. I mean, whatever it is, if you want to waste time, there’s so many ways to do it, but not like what the goalkeeper did. So it’s okay. You are also media guys; you understand football. If this is what you expected, so it’s okay.”
In the second half,Posta Rangers goalkeeper Bixente Otieno had to be subbed out after several treatment stoppages and was carried to the emergency ambulance.
His replacement Fredrick Otinda would have a match to forget as he misjudged the pass for the leveller.
Reflecting on his team’s performance, Akonnor admitted that the record league champions were uncharacteristically sluggish in the opening period, lacking the freshness required to break down a stubborn, deep-sitting Posta Rangers defense.
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However, he refused to be overly critical of his squad, noting that their resilience to fight until the final whistle preserved an important unbeaten streak.
“It was very important for us to get a point. If we had lost, it would have been bad for us.We didn’t start well today. We were very sluggish in the way we approached the game.
We lacked a little bit of quickness and freshness to play, and how we played in the first half affected us. But again, sometimes you have a bad day, sometimes things that you want will not work as they are.
What was important was that they tried; they fought even to the last minute. We got an equalizer, which was good for us.”
The focus now shifts immediately to the FKF Cup Round of 32, where Gor Mahia face a dangerous BB Bread side ,the giant-killers who recently eliminated arch-rivals AFC Leopards on Sunday at the Nyayo National Stadium.