“It will go down to the wire,” says Medo of relegation dog-fight

With 26 rounds of the Kenyan Premier League (KPL) matches played, and 10 games left to the end of the season, the fight for survival is seemingly taking no casualties.

At least eight clubs are fighting for safety at this point in time beginning with Mount Kenya United and Zoo Kericho who are the bottom end at position 18 and 17 respectively while the likes of Vihiga United, Posta Rangers, Chemelil Sugar, Western Stima, KCB and Nzoia Sugar– all have mathematical chances of being slayed by the axe should they post poor results in their upcoming matches.

Of course only two will be relegated with a 16th place-finisher undergoing play-off with a third-place finisher from the second –tier league – the national Super League

Mount Kenya have a miserable return of 18points from 26 goes, boasting of only five wins in the entire campaign as Vihiga and Zoo occupy the two positions above them, on 21 and 20 points respectively.

The Nzoia-KCB-Stima-Chemelil-Rangers pentagon seems to have some breathing space given their handful of points off the drop zone.

However, Mount Kenya United head coach Melis Medo believes the fight for survival will go down to the wire, insisting his troops are ready for the challenge.

According to the former Sofapaka boss, his charges will not relent in their quest for survival and yesterday’s 3-2 away victory to Zoo Kericho is an indicator of his side’s dedication to the cause.

“They will fight until the end, regardless of the situation that everybody is aware of. These boys are soldiers. When they decide to do something they go ahead and do it. That is what they did yesterday. They fought,” he offered.

United welcome Western Stima at the Kenyatta Stadium in Machakos on Wednesday and Medo believes his troubled side can still replicate the performance exhibited against Zoo, downplaying the results from other quarters.

“One game at a time, we sit down as a team and discover how we approach the next game despite what the team is going through. I am sure the boys will give it their best, I am confident.”

The American born tactician could however not offer anything on whether the team will lengthen its stay in the Kenyan top flight or not.

He instead is keen to ensure the team does not crumble under the financial crunch as his side went into the history books last week as the first Kenyan club to fail to honour a league match, after giving Gor Mahia a walk over on Thursday last week.

“You cannot predict anything right now. We play to the final whistle. You cannot predict anything until it is over,” noted Medo.