By James Ahela
Eldoret fans were treated to a high scoring women division one Queens’ Derby on Wednesday afternoon as Solasa Stima Queens settled to a 3-3 draw with Gene Queens at Eldoret Show Ground.
Solasa who beat Kisped last weekend on the same venue opened their scores through Elizabeth Nduta’s freekick just after eight minutes of playtime.
The visitors however fought their way back into the match and leveled the scores in the 39th minute through Sofia Wabukhe’s finesse.
With four minutes to stoppage time the visitors kept pressurizing and took a lead through Ruth Sicheyile long range shot.
Cynthia Matekwa leveled scores for Solasa at the return of the second half before Susan Naliaka converted a penalty for the visitors.
Matekwa solo drive and a shot from the right flank in the 73rd minute restored the hosts back into the match that ended in a draw.
Not prepared
Solasa’s head coach Julius Abik said that his side had not played a mid-week fixture for a while and that they weren’t well prepared for the match.
“We did not prepare well for this match, the ambulance arrived late delaying the kickoff time and that may have affected our players psychologically. We almost lost this match but I thank my players for hard work and the draw,” Abik said.
“But we have learnt from our mistakes and we are going to work on them for the next two day before our away weekend fixture,” he added.
Gene Queens team manager Anderson Sango said that his side worked on attack and scored goals despite conceding.
“We tried sharpening our attack to score goals and put our all to try and win this match but we have managed a draw and we are taking a point home,” he said
Sango however challenged division one teams to uphold league’s rules and regulations so as to raise the standards of women competitions.
“Women Division one league is equal to the men NSL and we have to operate within the law so that when the teams are promoted to the top tier league they are able adapt easily,” he said.
In the upcoming games, Gene Queens travel to Bomet where they will face off with Bomet Starlets while Solasa will also be away to Royal Starlets on Saturday.
