Nzoia almost out of sight as Nakumatt lose ground in NSL

Nakumatt FC lost ground on their push for automatic promotion from the National Super League (NSL) after falling to Vihiga United leaving Nzoia United with a massive nine-point advantage at the summit following the weekend round of fixtures in the second-tier.

The clash of the round at the Mumias Sports Complex saw Vihiga shop maximum points from the retailers in a 1-0 victory as Nzoia stopped Agro Chemicals by a similar score to leave them with 61 points at the top.

Nakumatt (52) remained second with Vihiga (49) inching closer as the battle for promotion to the Kenyan Premier League intensified with struggling St. Joseph FC stunning 2-1 victory over high flying Zoo Kericho (47) the upset of the round with the latter sliding from third to fifth.

David Naftali put through his own net in the second half to gift Vihiga victory over the retailers on Sunday in an outcome that left Nakumatt chairman, Albert Wesonga, to console his side that was held 1-1 by Nzoia at home midweek.

“The boys played well. Now we have to go back to the drawing board and ensure that we do not lose the next match,” he told hinting at biased officiating against his side.

“Vihiga United is a good team that we cannot underrate. Any NSL team from the top to six are very competitive. St. Joseph’s beat Zoo showing the competition is stiff,” the chairman added.

Nzoia skipper Vincent Ngesa led from the front with the winner in their clash against tricky Agro as Kariobangi Sharks (47) moved up to fourth with a handsome 2-0 victory over free-falling Police FC.

Agro (37) remained rooted in seventh whilst the cops (24) dropped to 16th following their reverses.

On Saturday, FC Talanta pulled clear of the bottom two (21) when they sunk basement side Shabana FC 1-0 to leave the fallen Gusii giants languishing with only nine points with survival hopes receding.

Ligi Ndogo (15) failed to give themselves a fighting chance when they succumbed to a 2-0 loss to Oserian (27) who shot up to 13th with goals from Brian Ochieng and  Peter Chesoli Chikani  condemning the visitors.

At the Mbaraki Stadium in Mombasa, Modern Coast Rangers (27) were beaten before their own fans 1-0 by the bankers KCB (44) who moved up to sixth.

WEEKEND RESULTS

SATURDAY 24TH SEP

13:00   FC  Talanta  1-0  Shabana

15:00  Oserian         2-0  Ligi ndogo

15:00  Bidco united 0-2 Moyas FC

15:00  Nairobi Stima1-0 Wazito FC

SUNDAY 25TH SEP

15:00 Kariobangi Shar  2-0   Police FC

15:00 Modern Coast Rangers  0-1   KCB

15;00 Nzoia United 1-0 Agrochemicals

15:00 St Joseph’s    2-1 Zoo Kericho

15:00  Vihiga United 1-0 Nakumatt