Belgian’s challenge to Simba

Dar es Salaam. Simba head coach Patrick Aussems has urged his players not to rest on their laurels ahead of two successive away matches.

Simba, who squeezed a slim but vital 1-0 win against their traditional foes Young Africans in a bruising Mainland Premier League match on Saturday, face African Lyon in Arusha tomorrow. The Msimbazi Street giants left for Arusha yesterday for the clash to be held at the Sheikh Amri Abeid Memorial Stadium.

They will swing back into action on March 3 for an encounter against Stand United at the CCM Kambarage Stadium in Shinyanga.

The two fixtures give Simba the chance to continue to close the gap on the sides above them, but Aussems is taking nothing for granted. In an interview with The Citizen yesterday, he emphasised the importance of just taking one game at a time.

“It was fantastic, wasn’t it?” the coach said of last week’s clash against Yanga at the National Stadium.

A second half goal by striker Meddie Kagere is all the Msimbazi Reds needed to silence Yanga in the nail-biting match.

Simba, who had thumped Al Ahly of Egypt 1-0 in the Caf Champions League match at the same venue before last weekend’s match, now have 39 points from 16 matches.

“All our focus is on African Lyon as we can’t look too far ahead,” he said.

The Belgian tactician added: “We’ve just got to keep doing what we’ve been doing.

“We can only focus on ourselves, we’ve had two great wins but that would mean nothing if we don’t win these away games coming up.

“We will go into Tuesday’s game fully confident, but knowing we can’t rest on our laurels as we still need to try to catch the teams above us.”

Simba are expected to return to Dar es Salaam early next month for a two-day recess before heading to Algeria for the Caf Champions League match against JS Saoura.

The Group D clash will take place on March 8 in Algiers. Aussems’ men, who beat Saoura 3-0 in the first leg game at the National Stadium last month, sit second in the group with six points.

They need four more points to qualify for the quarter-finals of the African continent’s premier club tournament.

Yanga, smarting after last week’s defeat to Simba, face yet another tricky test on Wednesday when they take on Mbao FC at the CCM Kirumba Stadium in Mwanza.

Mbao have never lost to Yanga at the Mwanza venue since earning promotion to the Premier League two seasons ago.

Yanga are still at the top of the league with 58 points from 24 games.