Malobas late equaliser earns City Stars draw against Muhoroni

Malobas late equaliser earns City Stars draw against Muhoroni

Francis Ocholla’s first half goal looked to have sealed the three points for Muhoroni Youth but Oliver Maloba’s late equaliser spared relegation-threatened and broke Nairobi City Stars the blushes on Saturday.

It also denied John ‘Bobby’ Ogolla his first victory as Muhoroni coach against the ailing opponents he left mid season when their financial ship hit rocky waters.

The 1-1 stalemate extended the Kawangware-based side’s winless streak to nine with the result failing to lift them from the relation places as they remained second from bottom.

The western-based side blew the chance to move up from sixth.

Speaking after the game, Ogolla expressed his disappointment with his players for conceding the lead late on in a game they certainly were not the best team on the pitch.

“City Stars were the better side from the start and it was unlucky that they didn’t create better chances in the game. I am not happy with the way my players approached the game, and this will be something we will correct on the training ground,” he told Citizen Digital.

City Stars boss and former Harambee Stars defender, Denis ‘Wise’ Owino, admitted he was not happy with the result despite the extra time equaliser that saved them from defeat since they came to the match to win.

“I’ll consider today (Saturday)’s match as two points lost and not one gained. We passed the ball beautifully for most of the game, but we couldn’t capitalize on the chances we created.

“We now look to our upcoming matches and hope we can stop this dismal run,” he rued.

Wycliffe Ochomo had a frustrating day in the office, failing to find add to his season’s tally of 10 despite having a lot of chances to put his name of the score sheet.

The first chance of the game fell to Lwamba Bebeto who was fed by Ochomo, but defender Luis Masika intervened and cleared the ball out of danger.

Ocholla opened the scoring for the sugar belt side, latching onto a beautiful in-swinger from midfielder Bebeto to tap it in past Ronny Kagunzi to make it 1-0.

A few minutes later, Ocholla turned provider putting Ochomo through on goal but the lanky forward somehow managed to shoot it wide with only the keeper to beat.

It turned into a frustrating match for the KPL top scorer who got a guilt-edged opportunity in the 37th to redeem himself after getting on the end of Abdallah Hamisi’s sublime pass but his cheeky lob past the keeper misfired terribly.

The Kawangware-based side enjoyed the bigger chunk of possession but struggled to breakdown Muhoroni’s stubborn defence.

Keeper Shikalo Farouk came to Muhoroni’s aid in the 41st; acrobatically repelling Robert Ndungu’s header which was going in.

Farouk continued with his brilliant display between the sticks; coming to Muhoroni’s rescue by parring Ndungu’s pin-point shot out for a fruitless corner.

Muhoroni made the first change of the game replacing goal scorer Ocholla with forward Moses Arita while Owino opted to send in Joseph Sakwa in place of Peter Musiime.

Ochomo had a chance to double the lead in the 77th but his stinging shot rattled the crossbar as the helpless keeper watched it go back into play and out of danger.

Maloba equalized for Stars in the final minute of extra time heading in Osama’s cross to square the game at the death.

Tags:

City Stars Muhoroni Youth Francis Ocholla Oliver Maloba

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