The Wekundu wa Msimbazi player admits they were affected by the two defeats they suffered in the league but are ready for the derby
Simba SC midfielder Jonas Mkude has revealed the back-to-back defeats the team suffered in the Mainland Premier League affected the morale of the players in camp.
The Wekundu wa Msimbazi suffered two consecutive defeats – 1-0 against Tanzania Prisons and then by the same scoreline against Ruvu Shooting – but recovered to beat Mwadui FC 5-0.
The two defeats saw Simba become the first team among the top three to lose back-to-back games in the current season.
Mkude has now claimed to lose the two matches left the team’s players affected and even their morale dropped because they were not expecting to lose twice in succession.
“To be honest, we did not anticipate to lose two matches in a row, it was not in our plans because we knew we have a strong squad, but losing the way we did somehow affected most of the players,” Mkude is quoted by Sokaletu.
“We really asked ourselves questions, we really felt hurt because we knew we had planned to win the matches but instead we lost, we got a very different result from what we had expected to get but now we have to forget about the past and plan for the future.
“We have the derby coming up against Yanga and we want to win, we want to do it for the fans, we must make sure that they are happy, we are ready to make them happy.”
Simba are now third on the 18-team league table after amassing 19 points, while Azam FC, who are topping the chart, have 25 points and second-placed Yanga have 23 points.
Meanwhile, the Tanzania Premier League Board (TPLB) have confirmed the names of the officials who will be in charge of the derby at the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium on Saturday.
The officials will be led by Elly Sasii, Mohamed Mkono, Abdallah Mwinyimkuu, Abubakar Mturo, Ramadhan Kayoko, Philipo Alando and Paschal Chiganga.
On Wednesday, TPLB CEO Almas Kasongo confirmed the derby will have two extra referees to make sure that all the teams and both sets of fans are satisfied with the outcome at the end of the whistle.
“We have added two extra referees for the derby, so we will have six referees in total to officiate the match on Saturday,” Kasongo told Goal on Wednesday.
“The two extra referees will be at the end of both sides of the goal-posts like it happens in Europe, and they will assist the centre referee and also the two assistants, plus the match commissioner making it six officials for the match.
“We have also made sure that security will be provided during and after the derby so we want to urge as many fans as possible to come for the match, it is the first derby of the season and we hope to see a good match.”
Last season, the two giants met three times, with the first round ending in a 2-2 draw before Yanga turned on the screw to win the second round fixture 1-0, but they again faced off in the semi-finals of the FA Cup where Simba won 4-1.
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