Local premier league campaign seemingly headed to the wire

Until a week ago, winning the Football Kenyan Premier (FKF) League was assumed to be Gor Mahia’s to lose until the multiple champions inexplicably started dropping points.

All this time, Tusker, who had surrendered the lead for two weeks, were heaving and puffing in a bid to scale the ladder amidst inconsistency that had raised concern in the team’s ranks.

Now, the brewers can rest easy in that they have reduced Gor’s lead to a point, thanks to a 1-0 win over Kenya Police at Nyayo National Stadium at the weekend.

Lady luck seemed to have smiled on Tusker all the way as Gor threw an advantage to draw 2-2 with Posta Rangers which served as good riddance for Tusker in their quest to retain the gong.

“As I have always said before, we are not looking at the performance of our closest challengers but are rather focussing on our remaining fixtures with a mindset of picking maximum points. Of course, the league is nearing a crucial stage and it will be in the best interest if we continue picking maximum points,”
True to his character, Matano urged the players to take on Kenya Police with the ruthlessness it deserves and the results bore fruits with a passing game that endeared the team to its faithful.

“I cannot say with certainty that Tusker shall win the title. At this point, let me just congratulate the players for a job well done against a very strong Police side. We carved many scoring chances and I’m glad that we managed to translate one into a goal that made all the difference,’’ offered Matano.

But in as much as it is too early to predict the destiny of the frontrunners in the league, bookmakers envisage a situation where Tusker will be back in the driving seat going by their next opponent in the season.

Whereas Tusker face a relatively modest opposition in relegation-threatened Wazito in Ruaraka on April 19, Gor have a mountain to climb as they face battle-hardened Police in a rematch in Kasarani on April 22.
That sums up the likelihood of potential titlists in the season with four other teams that are below in the pecking order including Nzoia, KCB, Police and AFC Leopards seeking for the misfortunes of Gor and

Tusker to bounce back in taking a stab at the title. Leopards will be hoping that the officials match reports of their match against Kakamega Homeboyz in Kakamega, which was abandoned with the hosts leading 1-0, will be in their favor.

The match was punctuated by an orgy of violence where both sets of fans engaged each other in stone-throwing which necessitated its premature ending.

Placed in the sixth position, Ingwe are struggling and apparently will be content with at least a third place finish although this will require a lot of hard work in their remaining fixtures.

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