Wasteful Homeboyz fire blanks against Al Hilal in Confederation Cup

Kakamega Homeboyz's Paul Adam (left) in action against Mohamed Abdullah of Al Hilal Benghazi from Libya during their CAF Confederation Cup first preliminary round match at Nyayo Stadium. [Stafford Ondego, Standard]

Wasteful Kakamega Homeboyz will only have themselves to blame after being held to a barren draw by Al Hilal Benghazi of Libya during their CAF Confederation Cup preliminary first leg encounter at Nyayo Stadium on Saturday.

The FKF Cup champions struggled to establish themselves as an attacking force in the both halves of the encounter with Homeboyz’s striker Ambrose Sifuna one of the culprits after missing a clear scoring opportunity in the opening 13th minute.

The former Sofapaka man failed to score in a one-on-one situation with Al Hilal Benghazi’s goalkeeper Husamedin Ahmed.

Patrick Odhiambo-led side also came close to finding the net but Moses Shumah's thumping header went inches over the crossbar in the 27th minute.

The visitors' only chance of the half came on the stroke of halftime when Aboubakar Meelad found himself a space but squandered the chance..

Mohamed Ouda led the side started the second half on a higher intensity with midfielder Abdelkadar Ghorab producing a long range shot that missed the net by inches.

Odhiambo made his first substitute of the match when he brought in Paul Adam in place of ineffective Shuma in the 64th minute.

The match was temporarily halted by the centre referee William Oloya of Uganda when Homeboyz’s Stephen Opoku collided with Ghorab on 72th minute, but resumed after the pair received medical attention.

Substitute Adam had an opportunity to secure the win for Homeboyz in the closing minutes of the game but his effort sailed over the bar.

Odhiambo lamented his side's lack of sharpness in-front of goal but remains hopeful that his side can turn around the fortunes in Libya.

“We really wanted to score a goal and win the game, but we didn’t utilise our chances but I believe we can still have opportunities at the return leg. We were just unlucky that we didn’t score. We are going to rectify our mistakes ahead of the second leg, our opponents are beatable in their own backyard. At least we didn’t concede a goal at home,” said Odhiambo.

But Libyan coach Ouda was satisfied with the result.“We are thankful with the results, we closed down on our opponent and now are ready for the second leg. We had just prepared for ten days but going to the second leg, we will do better," said the Egyptian coach.

The second leg will be played in Libya on August 27, with the aggregate winner of the two duels advancing to face Rayon Sports of Rwanda in the second round of the preliminaries.

CAF have temporarily allowed Homeboyz to use the Nyayo Stadium, despite not yet being fully certified, but in the event they make it into the group stages, then they will have to look for an alternative venue outside the country.