Al-Hilal Omdurman saw off AS Kigali 2-0 in the third match of the National Football League regular season on Wednesday. The visitors took all three points with goals from A. Samura in the 16th minute and A. Salem at the 63rd. It was a comfortable evening for the away side, who have now played once and won once.
Samura struck first, finding the net inside the opening quarter of the contest. Kigali had little to show for their early pressure after that, and the hosts switched off at the back when it mattered. Salem doubled the lead well after the hour mark, and the visitors never looked troubled again.
by then we were watching a side that knew what they wanted. Al-Hilal picked one up last week with a 1-0 win over Égloir Noir, and followed that with a 2-0 victory in the same fixture. They came to Kigali with confidence and there is no value left at that number when you play like this.
the hosts had not won since their opening day 2-1 win over Gichumbi back in May. They drew 0-0 away to Étoile de l'Est on Tuesday and lost 2-0 to Marins in their previous league outing. Three games, one point — it is not going to plan.
Kigali sit 12th with three games and zero wins. One draw and two losses leaves them in the lower reaches, and the scoreboard on Wednesday did nothing to improve their standing. They have not won since May and the pattern is becoming harder to ignore.
Al-Hilal sit third with three points from a single game. It is early days in the table, but they have shown enough to suggest they will not be pushed around. The result extended their unbeaten run and confirmed a prediction we made ahead of the fixture — away win, 61 per cent confidence. It came off.