Nairobi City Stars

Nairobi City Stars played host to a lively Stathmore University side who fought gamely but were ultimately beaten by superior finishing and a series of eye-catching cameos in center midfield.

Following a frenetic off-season that saw captain Dennis Okoth retire and others including Antony Kimani move on to league champions, Sofapaka, NCS give debuts to no less than seven new players including Ugandan full-back Asafu Munabi and the former Harambee Stars goal keeper, Joseph Ruto.

However, if the Stars were expecting an easy ride, Stathmore gave their hosts a real warning that they would be anything but pushovers as barely two-minutes into the game, a completely unmarked James Kombo narrowly headed over Michael Owiti’s cross from just outside the six-yard box.

Rudely awakened from their post season slumber, the City Stars snapped into action and a central midfield partnership of Collins Ochieng and Kevin Nyongesa soon began to dominate the middle third of the pitch with their ferocious tackling. Building on this platform, the class of the home side started to shine through and only a series of excellent defensive headers kept the Stars’ strikers from latching onto Abraham Ottache’s menacing crosses from the right.

As time ticked on, it would be the club’s new Nigerian signing who had the City Stars’ first real chance when, with twenty minutes on the clock, he darted into the area to pick up Nyongesa’s pass only to see his first effort blocked by defender Alphonse Madoda and then sent his follow-up shot narrowly wide.

Five minutes later, George Odary burst into the box and seemed to have been brought down illegally by Martin Mauka only to see the referee wave for play on. From the subsequent goal kick, keeper George Makau sliced it right to Ottache, who calmly headed it back into the path of Odary. However, the former KCB striker was unable to make the most of his team mate’s quick thinking, blasting his effort high and wide as Muaka forced him away from goal.

The game continued to be dominated by City Stars, who were reaping the rewards from Ochieng’s and Nyongesa’s domination of the midfield that left Stathmore reduced to launching hopeful long balls that were being ably dealt with by the home defense.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of last ditch saving tackles and close offside calls, the City Stars finally broke the deadlock through Ottache on the stroke of halftime. Oscar Mbugua, just on for Munabi, came forward into the Stathmore half and ran unchallenged down the left hand side before whipping a perfect cross into the penalty box, where Ottache stole in to comfortably slot the ball home and send the Stars in at the break with the lead.

The start of the second half saw a flurry of replacements including Ruto, Levy Muaka, Francis Thairu, Tony Otieno and Jimmy Bageya as head coach Ken Odhiambo looked to give his entire squad the chance to shake off the pre-season rust. Indeed, it would be the 17-year old striker Otieno, recently signed from relegated Mombasa side, Bandari, who quickly caught the eye as he threw his hulking frame into every challenge and this sheer physicality quickly unsettled the visiting defence.

It would be the youngster who enjoyed the first chance of the second half as he took down a long ball out of defence just beyond the halfway line before demonstrating an unexpected turn of pace to sprint past his marker and make his way into the area. Yet with the difficult work done, Otieno took the wrong option and tried to beat Makua at his near post with a weak effort, allowing the keeper to make the save and let his team off the hook.

However, the striker would not be denied and on fifty-seven minutes, Otieno duly scored. Thairu, who was clearly enjoying spraying passes around the Stathmore half, received the ball deep in the away half and nonchalantly clipped it over the head of the visitors’ left back into the path of the onrushing Justus Baseti. The Stars’ fullback, with his marker taken out of the game by Thairu’s pass, could calmly take the ball into the box and bring the keeper off his line before squaring the ball across the six-yard box where Otieno slotted home to double the City Stars’ lead.

Now the Stars were becoming increasingly confident and their pacey wide players were causing real problems to Stathmore’s high defensive line.

With twenty minutes still to play, the City Stars had a further opportunity to increase the lead as Ginalo Wahinya cleared the ball out of defence and well into the opposition half. The galloping Levy got to the ball ahead of his marker, brought the ball down and powered into the area only for Mukua to make yet another fine save, tipping the ball wide for a corner as the Stars’ looked to turn the screw on the visiting team.

Yet Strathmore would no go down without a fight. During a rare foray forward in the sixty-fifth minute, midfielder Kevin Omondi, with no options ahead of him and no one from NCS closing him down, tried his luck from almost forty yards out and his effort screamed into the top corner, giving the stranded Ruto no chance at all. It was a stunning effort that brought the vocal away fans to their feet and both teams immediately stepped up a gear and drove forward with greater urgency, knowing that the next goal would be crucial towards deciding the outcome of the match.

With time ebbing away, NCS should have scored once more when another highball from midfield unlocked the Strathmore defense and Levy, this time charging down the right hand flank and played the ball perfectly into the path of Bageya. But, faced with an open goal, the Ugandan took an unnecessary extra touch to bring the ball onto his right foot, allowing a defender to get back in time to block the eventual shot and keep Strathmore in the game.

However, Bageya, still smarting from that wasted opportunity was at hand to fashion City Stars’ third goal when it arrived in the eightieth minute. Drifting away from his marker just outside the penalty box, he deftly controlled Basweti’s pass down the right flank and whipped a fantastic cross across the face of the goal despite the attention of a Strathmore defender. Levy, timing his run to perfection, found himself unmarked as he tucked home the chance to restore the two goal lead and give the Stars breathing space once more.

Omindi, having dragged his side back in the game once before, would continue to menace to the City Star’s defenders and three minutes after his side’s restart, jinked and weaved his way towards the right-hand corner flag before picking out Michael Owieti. The Strathmore midfielder, arriving at just the right time into a crowded penalty box, coolly placed the ball into the bottom left corner of the net, once more leaving Ruto with no chance to save it.

Strathmore would simply not go away and it would fall to Levy to put the game beyond doubt. As the game entered injury time, the winger intercepted a hopeful pass in midfield and realising his initial option, Otieno, had timed his run too early and was offside, looked up and instantly played an inch-perfect through ball for Bageya to run onto. This time, the Ugandan’s touch in front of goal was more assured and once he got into the area, confidently finished low and hard into the corner of the goal.

There was still time for Otieno and Makua to continue their private duel as the striker, shooting from a difficult angle, forced the Strathmore keeper to pull off one final smart save but as a competition, the game was over and the fight had finally been knocked out of the plucky visitors. The whistle blew shortly afterwards and the Nairobi City Stars could finally relax after a hard-fought victory that offered many positives for the upcoming season.