AFC Leopards return to Nyayo Stadium on Saturday 9 the venue of last weekend’s 1-0 shock loss to City Stars for another Sportpesa Premier League fixture against strugglers Sofapaka.

Oscar Mbugua fired the lone shot which downed Leopards effectively ending their six match unbeaten run – a set back they would wish to put behind them and bounce back versus a bottom placed Sofapaka.

A win could see them re occupy the top spot on the league table with 17 points, depending on how joint leaders Mathare United and Tusker who are also on 14 points a piece fair in their respective matches against Stima and Sony Sugar.

Nothing special

“Ingwe’s” Belgian Coach Ivan Minnaert sees nothing special in the tie dubbed “The Cats Derby” saying as the norm, he expects difficult matches from all his opponents;

“Nothing special for us. All our games are difficult because each team want to win against us. So we will see how Sofapaka reacts because last weekend, they played well against Chemelil in the second half.” Minnaert told Soka25east.com.

Chemelil beat Sofapaka 2-1 in Machakos last weekend, scoring through Jared Obwogi and Erastus Mwaniki in the first half before Batoto Ba Mungu came back stronger in the second stanza managing to score a goal through skipper Wycliffe Opondo from the spot.

Head to head

Leopards boast a superior head to head record against Sofapaka. In the last six league clashes, Ingwe has won three times and Sofapaka once, with the rest being draws.

The last win for Leopards in the tie was a 1-0 victory at home on June 6,2015, while Sofapaka’s last win was way back on November 1,2014 when they beat the 13-time champions 2-1.

Sofapaka who have lost six out of seven fixtures will make do without their head Coach David Ouma who is out with Harambee Starlets for a national duty in Algeria. Assistant Coaches Martin Ndagano and John Baraza are expected to handle the team in Ouma’s absence.

@bonfaceosano