Gor Mahia coach Hassan Oktay now says their match against Tusker should have been shelved.
The Kenyan champions won the mid-week league match by a solitary goal to help them close the gap with leaders Bandari at the top of the 18-team table to two points.
However, Oktay insists that Kenyan Premier League should have postponed the match to give K’Ogalo enough time to prepare for their return leg match of the Caf Confederation Cup against Hussein Dey in Algeria on Sunday.
“If you ask me, we did not deserve to play against Tusker. That match should have been shelved for another day. We have a tricky Caf match coming up and this match is not for Gor Mahia but for Kenya as a country and it was prudent that the league match was cancelled in our favour.
“It is unfortunate now that we travel to Algeria with tired legs just because we had to play a match that could have been postponed. We need the players to be fresh for such a task and now we only have three days to recover. We needed a week to prepare and give tired players time to rest,” Said Oktay.
And what pained Oktay most is the fact that Algerian federation had postponed the league match involving Hussein Dey. “Look, we will play against a very fresh side because the federation removed their mid-week match from the roaster, Hussein Dey did not play on Wednesday but we played.
“KPL should honestly, try and help Gor Mahia in such situations because we are representing Kenyan football, it is not Gor Mahia but for all the Kenyans.”
K’Ogalo are scheduled to depart for Algeria on Thursday via Cairo ahead of the crucial match set for Sunday.