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AFC Leopards produced a masterpiece when they recorded the highest winning margin in the 2022/23 Football Kenya Federation (FKF) Premier League in a 6-0 drubbing against FC Talanta at Nyayo National Stadium yesterday.

Victor Omune was Leopards’ hero after incredibly scoring four goals and in the process went home with the match ball as per the rules for his wizardry.

Cliff Nyakeya, who once had a stint with A Masry of Egypt, helped himself to a brace in what was literally a walk in the park for Ingwe.

FC Talanta struggled in the game and should thank their lucky stars for escaping a bigger loss against a Leopards side which redeemed themselves after putting Nzoia Sugar on the back foot in Bungoma five days ago only to settle for a barren draw.

Talanta failed to breach Leopards’ defence line of Tedian Esilaba, Kaycie Odhiambo and Lewis Bandi and instead, they were the ones who were punished as early as the 7th minute when Nyakeya found himself unmarked to slot in Ingwe’s opener.

Two more goals by Omune (27th and 53rd minutes) and Nyakeya (56th minute) and Omune again (87th and 89th) were enough to help Leopards leap-frog Ulinzi Stars from the seventh to the sixth position.

“We were smart enough to have recorded such a decent win. I must say we worked hard to avoid the mistakes we made in previous games and our efforts have paid dividends. We had many scoring chances but we are content with the result,” said Leopards coach Patrick Aussiems.

And at Kasarani Annex, Wazito came from behind to hold Posta Rangers to a 1-1 draw.

Barren draw

Meanwhile, Nzoia Sugar coach Salim Babu has congratulated his players for expunging a barren draw with AFC Leopards to finally beat Kariobangi Sharks in Nairobi last Wednesday in a result that enabled the sugar belt side to continue to cling to the top spot.

Babu, who is touted as one of the hottest contenders for the Sports Coach of The Month of January 2023, has expressed his delight at seeing his players adapt well to his tactical changes during the second half of the match played at Utalii ground.

“We reaped the benefits of an improved second half that was full of action. In the first half, there was an element of lack of confidence on the part of my players and I told them during the resumption, hey! Sharks are beatable and they went full throttle for their jugular and we got the result we wanted,” said Babu.

He added: “I was disappointed in the first half when we gave Sharks too much room to manoeuvre but when we unearthed their weak points, there was no looking back and I guess that’s why we scored two quick-fire goals that sealed the match as a contest.”

Despite the Bungoma side enjoying the form of their lives, Babu said it is too early to ascertain their title prospects and clarified that they will take each match at a time.

“The idea here is to take each match at a time. We shall not be looking at how our closest challengers shall be performing as that is bound to distract us. To me, it would make sense for us to try to maintain our consistency moving forward,” said Babu.

Besides enjoying a purple patch, Nzoia can take pride that it has proven goal scorers most notably John Mwangi who scored a double en route to the Bungoma side vanquishing Kariobangi Sharks.

The fleet-footed striker, who has reportedly left several KPL teams drooling over his services, scored a hat-trick in Nzoia’s 4-0 massacre of Wazito at Sudi Stadium in Bungoma on January 18 with Hassan Beja contributing one goal.