Nairobi — FKF Cup Champions Kenya Police FC were held to a barren draw by Ethiopia's Coffee, in the first leg of their CAF Confederation Cup first preliminary round at the Nyayo National Stadium Sunday evening.
The law enforcers, making their debut in Continental football, had some good chances to score, but couldn't utilize and will now have their work cut out heading to the return fixture in Addis Ababa next weekend.
A scoring draw would be enough to take them through, while defeat would spell the end of their African sojourn after just a single round.
The Ethiopian side was comfortable with the score at 0-0 and slowed down the pace of the game greatly, attacking only when they knew they had a good shot at a goal.
Police had the first sniff at goal after 10 minutes when new signing Eric Zakayo picked the ball from distance and dragged a low shot which went inches wide.
The home side suffered a setback barely a minute later when another new signing, midfielder Brian Musa was stretchered off injured with a nasty ankle sprain and was replaced by Charles Ouma.
Already missing Kenneth Muguna who is serving a past Continental suspension from his time at Azam FC, Police's starting two at the heart of midfield was out.
With the visitors playing a compact block, Police couldn't manage to find a way to open them up and have an effort at goal.
Coffee had their first real sniff at goal in the 26th minute when Anteneh Beyene struck from distance, but the ball flew inches wide.
-More to follow
