Despite dominating the first half, Harambee Stars under coach Benni McCarthy conceded with two minutes left to the half-time break from the penalty spot to suffer a 1-0 defeat.
A mistake by Gor Mahia defender Sylvester Owino, who fouled Equatorial Guinea’s dangerman Josete Miranda, saw the referee point to the spot.
The 27-year-old, who plays for Super League Greece 2 club Kalamata, dusted himself up to take the penalty, and smashed it home past Bryne Omondi for what turned out to be the winner.
Kenya had a couple of chances to take the lead before the Nzalang Nacional broke the deadlock, with Ayunga being the main culprit. The St Mirren forward, who started the friendly in the absence of captain Michael Olunga, had clear-cut chances to put the ball into the net but he failed to convert.
His first opportunity came in the 13th minute when he found space inside the area but shot straight into the hands of Jesús Owono. Ayunga also had a one-on-one situation with Owono, but he directed his shot to the hands of the keeper.
Ayunga blames Kenya's defeat on poor finishing
Speaking after the game, the 27-year-old praised the performance of Harambee Stars' defenders but admitted the strikers had failed to do their work despite the many chances Kenya created.
“We are frustrated with the result, obviously losing 1-0 to a penalty, I am not sure we haven’t seen back whether it was a pen or not, you know it looked 50-50 at the time,” said Ayunga after the game.
“I think as a team defensively, we were quite good, they had a couple of shots, but other than that, the only real chance they had was obviously the penalty.”
Ayunga added: “For us (strikers), I think especially in the first half, we needed to make sure we take the chances, you know we created good opportunities, maybe the last part, the last finish was not right, but we made how many chances, I don’t know, but we made a lot.”
Discussing on the game plan, Ayunga revealed: “We had a good game plan to sit deep and then when we recover the ball we do transition quickly which we did, probably more in the first half, but in the second half they had a 1-0 lead so they dropped earlier to defend it.
“I think the game plan in the first half worked, but it is just down to us forwards to take the chances.”
Kenya is yet to beat Senegal in five attempts
Harambee Stars will return to action against Senegal on November 18th at the Mardan Sports Complex. The last time Kenya played against the Lions of Teranga was in 2019 during the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Egypt.
During the group stage fixture, Kenya suffered a 3-0 defeat at the 30 June Stadium in Cairo with former Liverpool striker Sadio Mane notching a brace. Crystal Palace forward Ismailia Sarr opened the scoring before Mane made it 2-0 and added the third from the penalty spot.
In the last five matches in all competitions, Kenya are yet to beat Senegal. The only time Kenya managed to hold Senegal was in 1990 during the AFCON qualifiers. During the first leg meeting at Stade 19 Mai 1956 in Annaba, the game ended in a 0-0 draw.
However, the return leg saw Senegal hammer Kenya 3-0 at Stade Leopold Senghor in Dakar. In 2004, the two nations met again in the AFCON qualifiers with Senegal emerging 3-0 winners at Stade 15 Octobre in Bizerte.
