The Tusker FC Youth Team has endured a challenging start to their campaign, managing two draws and three defeats from their opening five matches.

Despite the difficult run, head coach Peter Kariuki remains optimistic, insisting that the performances have been encouraging and that the results will soon reflect the quality within the squad.

“I believe it is just a matter of time before we start firing,” Kariuki said. “If you look at our games, we have been playing really well but our biggest undoing is the finishing. We create four or five clear chances in a game, but we can’t just put the ball in the net. This is what we have focused more on during our training and I believe we will improve.”

A major factor in the reduced attacking output has been the departure of the team’s top forwards, Douglas Omanga and David Polepole, who were both promoted to the senior Tusker FC squad at the start of the season. Their absence has left a noticeable gap in goals.

However, rather than lamenting the loss, Kariuki views it as part of the club’s broader developmental success.

“We lost our two top scorers; Douglas Omanga and David Polepole who were promoted to the senior team and this has hurt us,” he admitted. “But we are not looking at it negatively because that is our mandate as youth coaches. Now it is up to us to create new scorers and that is what we are doing.”

The coach says the technical team is now working closely with several promising attackers in the squad, focusing on composure, movement inside the box, and decision-making in the final third.

“That is all we have been working on in training. We have tried to recreate all those scoring opportunities in terms of 1v1, 2v2 etc and trying to improve in our execution. I believe results will come soon,” the coach added.

The team will face off with Jamhuri Soccer Academy in their sixth match of the season at the Ruaraka Complex on Saturday afternoon.