Leopards beat Mathare United 4-2 to go top of the league for 24 hours before being dislodged by a rampant Gor Mahia who beat Muhoroni Youth 4-0 as Tusker also eased into second place with a 2-0 victory over Western Stima.
The Sunday Nation reported:-
AFC Leopards stormed back to the top of the Tusker Premier
League on Saturday with an emphatic 4-2 hammering of Mathare United at
Mumias Sports Complex.
Leopards are now two points clear at the top of
the table and will closely be monitoring action on Sunday when Gor Mahia
and Tusker play.
If Gor Mahia falters against Muhoroni at City
Stadium and Tusker flops in their game against Western Stima at
Kasarani, AFC Leopards will be a heart beat away from the title.
It was a crucial game for Leopards; a slip would
have mathematically locked them out of the race but when Paul Were
scored the third goal to make the scores 3-2 with 15 minutes remaining,
they looked to be cruising to the top.
It was a high scoring game and both teams did not
fear to venture upfront for goals. As early as the 13th minute Mike
Baraza beat Mathare’s offside trap to release a screaming left shot to
the roof of the net.
But even before Leopards could finish celebrating,
Jesse Were capitalized on some slack Erick Masika defending to latch
onto a loose ball to level the scores.
Leopards were not going to relent knowing very
well their title ambitions depended on this game. Their next attack was
from a good passing move between Victor Ochieng and Bernard Mang’oli
before the latter rifled in a ground shot from the edge of the box.
Two-one it was until the breather but both sides had given so much.
After a see-saw battle in midfield for most of the
second half, Mathare levelled the scores in the 69th minute. Leopards
had committed most of their players upfront as Charles Okwemba took a
corner which was collected by Mathare players who surged ahead in sixes
outnumbering the Leopards rear.
Andrew Tololwa released a cross which found Francis Ouma unmarked and he cooly headed past Patrick Matasi.
At this point Leopards looked to be struggling and the entire Mumias Complex was dead silent under persistent rain.
But Jan Koops still had an ace up his sleeves. He
pulled out Victor Ochieng who looked rather tired and brought in Allan
Wanga in the 72nd minute. Wanga’s first touch nearly resulted in a goal.
Wanga was to play provider in the 75th minute
beating Anthony Kimani to cut back for Were who simply tapped the ball
into the net.
Leopards were not done yet. Baraza, who had a huge game took up responsibilities for a free kick deep in Mathare’s territory.
He floated a perfect cross into the box and
Charles Okwemba, incidentally the smallest man in the box, timed his
jump to head home Leopards fourth goal.
Futaa
reported:-
The eleven game
unbeaten run by Mathare United came to a crashing halt with a 4 – 2 loss to AFC
Leopards at the Mumias Sports Complex in the Tusker Premier League (TPL) clash
on Saturday 3 November.
AFC Leopards went ahead after 13 minutes with a scorcher for
a goal after nice work by Paul Were released Mike Baraza who beat the Mathare
United defence and unleashed a left footer to the roof of the net from a tight
angle.
Even before the
Isikuti dancers were through with their celebrations, AFC Leopards were
under attack. Eric Masika slid in to clear but his touch set up Jesse Were who
fired feebly past Patrick Matasi for the equaliser.
On 18 minutes, however, the home side was to surge forward
and the very impressive Bernard Mangoli latched onto a pass from the right to
beat martin Musalia with a low shot from the edge of the box. The goal was his
second in the league against the Slum Boys.
AFC Leopards should have got the third goal on 44 minutes
but Mike Baraza’s goal bound shot was cleared by Anthony Kimani after beating
the offside trap and the advancing Martin Musalia too as the home team went to
the break with the slim lead.
Mike Baraza went close two minutes after the restart with a
free kick after John Odhiambo’s foul on Bernard Mangoli but his low shot was
parried clear for a corner by Musalia.
On the hour mark, Victor Ochieng should have done better
when he latched on to a loose ball after a miscommunication in the Mathare
United defence but he lost his footing with just the keeper to beat.
The misses by the home team spurred Mathare on and on 65
minutes the Slum Boys broke clear with a counter attack after defending a
corner well and Joseph Mwangi crossed the ball for Francis Ouma to beat Matasi
at the far post with a header to the net’s roof.
Koops, ten minutes later had seen enough and pulled off
Victor Ochieng for Allan Wanga.
Wanga then had an immediate impact, beating
John Odhiambo to square the ball for Paul Were in the six yard box. Were’s calm
shot gave Musalia no chance.
Charles Okwemba put the icing on the cake with an 89
th
minute goal from a header after connecting well with a Mike Baraza free kick
from the right flank.
The win takes AFC Leopards on top of the 16 team log, for 24
hours at least, before Gor Mahia and Tusker take to the field on Sunday. Ingwe
have 57 points so far. Mathare on the other hand remains seventh with 38
points.
MichezoAfrika reported:-
AFC Leopards on Saturday afternoon took control of the Kenya Premier
League log after a spirited 4-2 win against Mathare United in an
entertaining six goal thriller played at the Mumias Sports Complex. AFC
Leopards is now perched at the helm of the KPL log with 57 points two
ahead of Gor Mahia who play Muhoroni Youth on Sunday and three ahead of
defending champions Tusker who have a date with giant killers Western
Stima.
The Blue Leopards were forced to twice recover from double defensive
punishment by Mathare United who twice staged clinical text book counter
attacks to pull level.
Ingwe took the lead through Mike Barasa in the 14
th minute
beating Martin Musalia from a close range tight angle left foot shot but
before the Ingwe defense line could settle back in their formation from
their celebration, Jesse Were pounced on a loose ball in the box to
rattle Matasi for the leveler just seconds after restart.
Three minutes later, Bernard Mang’oli recaptured the lead for AFC with a
fierce low drive to Musalia’s far right from Okwemba’s assist.
Jesse Were was back in the 22
nd minute with a powerful shot from the edge but Matasi was on point this time to easily collect the attempt.
In the 36
th minute Paul Were’s contribution on the left flank
delivered a corner for Ingwe and the attempted lob in was cleared
before it could create damage. The clearance landed on Were again who
brought a cross back to the danger area but the referee ruled off side.
In the 40th minute, Victor Ochieng was served with a clever ball deep
from the midfield by Mang’oli but his run was marginally judged offside
though his final chip above Musalia in goal had been stopped by the
upright.
Mike Barasa in the 43
rd minute broke the fragile Mathare
United offside trap with a good run but his final shot on target was
cleared just before it crossed the line by captain Anthony Kimani for a
non effective corner.
Mathare United had the final piece of action in the first half with a 45
th minute free kick at the edge of the box that was fired above for Ingwe to take a 2-1 lead to the break.
At the start of the second half, Bernard Mangoli’s drive was clipped for
a free kick taken by Mike Baraza but Musalia was equal to the task
parrying away the goal bound shot to safety.
Mathare had moments of scare in the 63
rd minute when a
defensive blunder gifted Victor Ochieng an easy ball but the latter was
sluggish in his reaction failing to finish off what looked like an open
chance.
In the 66
th minute, Mathare United produced a spectacular
counter attack, capitalizing on a weak cross by Mang’oli to catch the
overlapped defense line off guard. Mathare attacked like a swarm of bees
with five players sprinting in sync deep from their half and the final
ball found Francis Ouma’s head on the blind side to beat Matasi with a
roof top goal.
Allan Wanga then came in for Victor Ochieng in the 71
st
minute and he immediately made the difference for Ingwe as three minutes
after coming on, he beat the Mathare United defense line to serve a
proper square ball for Paul Were to sink past Musalia for a 3-2 lead.
Charles Okwemba creamed Ingwe’s cake with a 4
th goal in the 89
th minute heading past Musalia from a Mike Baraza free kick.
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